


To Love Is To Destroy

by sun_moon_and_stars



Series: The Falcon and the Hawk [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-03-11 00:59:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 49,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13513425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sun_moon_and_stars/pseuds/sun_moon_and_stars
Summary: A complete reworking of my Shadowhunters rewrite fic.He was told to tame the bird... not to love it.Jace Wayland and Jazmine Summerwell have spent their entire lives together; training, fighting, living alongside each other and their adoptive family, the Lightwoods. The two grew up believing a lesson that they were taught at an early age, "To love is to destroy..."Now, the fate of the Shadow World hangs in the balance, its only hope rests on the shoulders of a team of young Shadowhunters. But with the arrival of a mysterious young woman, first thought to be a simple mundane with the Sight, things start to take an interesting turn for Jace, Jaz, Alec, and Izzy.The four of them embark on a journey with unexpected twists and turns, in a race against time for answers, one question still remains -- Can Jace and Jaz learn that to love is to truly live before it's too late?





	1. The Mortal Cup

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AzulaLavellan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzulaLavellan/gifts).



> Welcome to the very beginning of my Shadowhunters rewrite fanfic. I am working hard to get the chapters back up to where I was when I decided to change everything and start fresh, so hopefully, those of you who were already following the story will continue to do so. Thank you so much for your support! And I hope you enjoy the journey!
> 
> This fic is dedicated to my best friend, AzulaLavellan, who graciously helped me with the idea and will also have a character being introduced sometime in the series. I am super grateful to her for all she's done to help with my fic, including being my beta!!  
> You rock, Az! <3

“Ahem,” a voice entered the quiet of the bedroom, the person it belonged to intently watching the golden-haired young woman in front of them. “Hey, Jaz, do you have any idea what this mission is about? Did Jace tell you anything?”

The woman let her breath out in a hiss, lifting the black t-shirt she wore and examining her reflection in the mirror. She groaned, “Damn it, Jace Wayland…” Her body was covered in runes and littered with black and blue bruises. “Uh, no, Izzy. Jace hasn’t told me anything about this one. But I didn’t stick around after training long enough for him to tell me.”

Izzy stepped through the door and sat on the end of the bed, watching Jaz look over the damage acquired from her sparring match with Jace. “Yikes. Take another beating today? That’s definitely not like you.”

A chuckle sounded from the doorway and both women turned to find Jace Wayland himself standing with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes swept over the blonde in front of him. In every way, the two of them matched each other completely--appearance, behavior, even their rune placement was a perfect mirror image. The only difference between the two is the color of their eyes; Jaz’s were a warm, deep chocolate brown while the iris of Jace’s right eye was blue and the left one was an interesting half-blue and half-brown mix.

The young man met his best friend’s gaze in the mirror and whistled. He stood there for another moment, then approached her side. Jace carefully scanned the woman’s torso, jaw tensing as he took in the discolored marks on her skin. He smirked, a teasing tone in his voice. “By the Angel, Jaz. It looks like you let the training room floor get the best of you.”

“Ah, it looks worse than it is.” Jaz struggled to lift the shirt over her head and winced at the pain. “I’d say the same about you but it looks like you already took care of that.”

“Jaz can take an ass kicking better than the rest of us, can’t she?” From her spot at the foot of Jaz’s bed, Izzy watched the interaction between her friends but kept her mouth shut. Neither of them was ready to face the truth about themselves; she knew that one day soon, they would have to, but she let them have today.

“Yeah, she really can.” Jace looked up and offered Jaz an impressed smile, then reached behind him and pulled his stele from his back pocket. He grabbed the hem of the black t-shirt and gently lifted it over her head, turning her to him, he passed his stele over the _Iratze rune_ on Jaz’s left flank. When he spoke again, his voice had switched back to the playful tone he used minutes before. “To be fair, we both know you got distracted by my good looks. There’s no shame in admitting that you have a thing for me, Summerwell.”

Jaz let out an irritated sigh and rolled her eyes, looking up into Jace’s blue-brown orbs. She returned his playful tone with a smirk of her own, “Don’t think I’m going to go easy on you next time, Wayland.”

The two had been a part of each other’s lives for as long as they could remember, there wasn’t a single thing anyone could tell them that they didn’t already know, except how they truly felt about each other. But they were Shadowhunters, and Shadowhunters don’t do feelings.

Behind them, Izzy cleared her throat, reminding the duo that they weren’t alone. “Hey, Jace, anything else you can tell us about this mission tonight?”

Jace swallowed and looked up from Jaz over to the dark-haired woman, then made his way back over to the door. He sent Jaz a quick wink and called back over his shoulder as he exited her room, “Nope, just get changed and meet me in the Ops Center in fifteen.”

***

Fifteen minutes later, Izzy stood at the mirror in her own room, she had on a white top and matching mini skirt with one blue and one white wig in each hand. She held them both up in an attempt to figure out which one to wear with her outfit.

“Isabelle, let’s go.” The voice of her older brother, Alec, called out and she spun on her heels. Discarding the blue wig onto the end of her bed, she made her way out into the hall.

“Hey, there, big bro.” Izzy greeted Alec, stopping in front of him in the middle of the hallway.

Alec glanced at the white wig in his sister’s hand, “Really?”

Izzy smirked, stroking the wig as they walked down the hall, “Demons dig blondes.”

“Of course they do, but that’s white. Is Jaz with you?”

“No, she’s not. I was with her a little bit ago, she looked like hell after her training session with Jace. Platinum. And they don’t exactly like Shakespeare, okay, Alec?”

“Yeah, Jace did, too. They’re intense, but they’re good at what they do. And you’re plenty distracting on your own.” Alec commented as they finally entered the Ops Center.

Izzy let out a sigh, “So, be yourself. Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“Never mind. Looking good, let’s go.”

The two siblings descended the steps into the main part of the room, making their way over to Jaz and Jace; both of them were standing in front of one of the many large screens in the room. Izzy greeted them first, “We’re ready, Jace. Hey, Jaz, feeling better?”

The two blondes shared a silent conversation with each other before Jace turned to address Izzy, “Nice choice, Izzy. Demons dig blondes.”

“Demons aren’t the only ones.” Jaz quipped with a wink in Jace’s direction. She would never openly admit it, but Jazmine Summerwell most definitely had a thing for blondes, specifically the blonde Shadowhunter with whom she’d spent most of her life with. No one knew Jaz better than Jace did and no one knew Jace better than she did, except maybe the Lightwood siblings. They had grown up together, trained together, been through the death of Jace’s dad together, and coming to live with the Lightwoods together.

“Told you.” Izzy remarked to her brother, the two words holding a double meaning.

“It’s platinum.” Alec deadpanned.

“All right, guys, for some reason our demon friends are killing mundanes and draining their blood.” Jace said after a couple minutes, heading toward the other side of the room and up the stairs, Izzy following close behind.

“Why do they need blood? Isn’t that vampire territory?” Alec asked, walking after his sister with Jaz following behind him.

Jace shrugged, “I don’t know, Alec. Lazy vampires, maybe?”

Izzy sighed as the four of them entered the training room, “There must be something special about their blood.”

“What could be special about mundane blood?” Alec asked, coming to a stop behind Jace who opened the wall to their right that held a rack of silver blades.

“You get me a sample and I’ll tell you exactly what they’re looking for.”

Jaz stood with her arms crossed over her chest, looking at her three friends with a calculated expression in her brown eyes. They didn’t need to look at her to tell that the gears in her head were turning, that she was working through the information in order to come to a conclusion. “Izzy’s right, there has to be something in the blood that they’re interested in. But we won’t know for sure unless we can get our hands on a sample of it.”

Alec chuckled at Jaz’s sudden interest in the blood of the mundanes, “Or they could just be draining their blood for the hell of it.”

“Come on, Alec. Demons don’t do anything just for the hell of it.”

“We’ll have more answers when we figure out exactly who the demons are working for.” Jace handed one of the blades to the others and grabbed one for himself, then turned to Jaz. “Hey, I know that look. Whatever you’re thinking, save it until after we kick some ass.”

“So, you don’t think they’re acting on their own?” Izzy asked as she and Jaz fell into step beside Jace with Alec bringing up the rear.

“No.” Jace slightly shook his head, glancing at the girls and Alec as they all made their way back to the Ops room.

“They’re not exactly creative thinkers, they’re shapeshifters.” Alec elaborated as they all descended the steps.

Jace led them back to the monitor from before and pointed to the screen, the image of a Chinese man with grey hair and glasses, wearing a blue suit with a button up shirt and tie appeared on the screen in front of them. “This is what our target looks like.”

“For now.” Izzy commented, taking a good look at the screen.

“Jaz, I want you up above with me, track the crowds, stick to the shadows.”

Alec took a look at the screen, then turned to follow Jace and Jaz toward the doors, “Great, I’ll get approval for the mission.”

“Come on, Alec. By the time you’ve sent that message, we’ll have killed six demons.” Jace noted, looking at the blade in his hand and continuing down the hall.

“Besides, it’s more fun to break the rules than to follow them.” Izzy remarked, following the others.

Jaz turned to face her friends and began to walk backward down the hall, smirking at Alec, “Yeah, Lightwood, live a little.”

***

Outside of the club called Pandemonium, Jaz crouched in her place among the shadows on top of a building and glanced down at Alec where he stood, facing the fruit stand of a small bodega with his head down. Their mark had stopped just behind him and checked around him to make sure he wasn’t being followed, before continuing toward the club. Alec shifted his eyes up to meet Jaz’s momentarily and slowly began tailing the man with enough space between them, while she continued tracking them from the darkness on the roof; Alec quickly jumped up to join her when the man turned around to check behind him.

Izzy walked to the other side of the bridge she was standing on as the target moved underneath her, crouching down, she passed her stele over the _Agility rune_ on the inside of her left wrist. She ran across the bridge and pushed off, landing on the adjacent roof and continued tracking the target’s movements. He was still making his way forward, bumping into one of the people passing by, he took on their appearance instantly.

Further down the alley, Jace watched from a second bridge as the shapeshifter bumped into one final person, a woman in a purple dress. Alec, Izzy, and Jaz joined Jace on the bridge looking out over the crowd, they were all glamoured, hidden from the mundanes. The two blondes shared a look before the four of them effortlessly flipped to the ground, landing on their feet. As they made their way to Pandemonium’s entrance, Jace bumped into a red-haired young woman standing next to a parked van.

The girl whirled around and spoke to Jace in an irritated tone, “Hey, can you watch where you’re going?”

“You can see me?” Jace asked. He stopped Jaz and they turned to face her, letting Alec and Izzy go on without them.

“Yeah, that’s kind of the point, but you obviously didn’t see me.”

“You have the Sight.”

“Wait, the what?”

Jaz intently studied the redhead’s face and quirked her eyebrows, “The Sight. It means that you, a mundane, can see us. You’re not supposed to be able to see us.”

Jace’s eyes quickly searched the face of the unknown girl in front of him, trying to figure out if there was any way that they knew each other. “How can I not know who you are?”

She scoffed, looking between the two blondes in front of her, “Has that line seriously ever worked for you? Even once?”

“Jace, Jaz, let’s go!” Alec’s voice called to them from Pandemonium’s door. They took one last look at the red-haired woman before turning and heading into the club behind Izzy and Alec.

***

Once inside, Jace, Alec, Izzy, and Jaz split up in different directions to try and find the shapeshifter that they’d been following. Jace spotted her heading toward the back of the club, to a room that was closed off by a curtain; the four of them followed her through the curtain and took their places.

“Izzy.” Jace said, sending a look in her direction. With a smirk, she stepped up onto a small stool a few feet away, removed her coat and the platinum wig, and started dancing. A few of the men in the room threw their attention to Izzy and approached, allowing Jaz and Jace to stalk the target without drawing any unwanted attention to themselves. Jace snaked his arms around the woman’s waist and spoke into her ear, “I hear you’ve been peddling mundane blood.”

“Why? Are you looking to score?” She asked.

“I’m not.” The woman turned to face him as he spoke, “But you’re gonna tell me who is.”

“Well, you’re outnumbered here.”

Jace shifted his eyes up to the rafters directly above them and smirked as Jaz nodded to him, her seraph blade already drawn and waiting. He drew his own and its blade lit up, “Oh, I like our odds. Last chance.”

“Watch out!” Before either of the two Shadowhunters had the chance to move, the young woman that they had met outside rushed forward and pushed the woman away from Jace and onto the couch behind her. The shapeshifter turned toward the redhead, mouth splitting open into four parts and it hissed at her.

“Careful!” Jace scolded, he pushed the mundane behind him and she fell to the floor, sliding a few feet away. The demon turned to face the blonde with a roar. Taking the pause as her cue, Jaz jumped down from the rafters as the demon lunged for Jace, taking the scratch of its claws herself before sliding on her knees between Jace’s legs and coming to a stop in front of the mysterious young woman. Jace slashed the shifter with his seraph blade and it erupted into a pile of burning embers and fizzled out completely. “Are you okay?”

Before either of the women could reply, one of the shifters that had been occupied with Izzy started to make his way toward the two blonde Shadowhunters. He was stopped, however, when with a flick of her wrist, Izzy securely wrapped her electrum whip around his neck and pulled him back toward her with a shock. She spun, pushing the second demon away from her, then delivered a kick to the chest of the first and sent him staggering backward.

Jace turned his attention to Jaz and the mundane, offering his hand to help the stunned young woman up off of the floor, “Are you hurt?”

The woman was given no time to answer when out of nowhere one of the demons walked up and delivered a solid punch to the side of Jace’s face, causing the man to lose hold of his weapon, sending it flying out of his grasp and landing on the leather couch behind them. The blade faded as soon as it was out of the young man’s hand.

Jaz could only stand and watch, a look of confusion and awe written across her face when the mundane picked up the blade from where it lay before her, and the blade reappeared at her touch. Her attention was drawn back to her friend upon realizing that the weapon the redhead held was his and he was now defenseless against his attacker, but her worry quickly ebbed away as she watched Jace spin the man toward the mundane, sending the blade in her hand through his torso. She let out a sigh of momentary relief but groaned in frustration when a pair of hands wrapped around Jace’s neck and pulled him away before he could take hold of his weapon again.

“Alec!” Jace called out to the dark-haired man, and without missing a beat, Alec tossed Jace the seraph blade he had; catching the weapon with ease, the blonde spun around and thrust the blade through the demon’s midsection. Swiftly tossing the seraph blade back to Alec, Jace grabbed his from the mundane just in time to slice apart another demon that was making its way toward Jaz where she stood a few feet away, struggling with one more of her own. He then spun around again and reached out with his blade, Alec doing the same, and both men took down the last of the shapeshifters.

The adrenaline that had been coursing through Jaz’s veins finally began to wear off and she sunk to her knees, grasping at her midriff. When she pulled her hands away and glanced down, blood coated the black fingerless leather glove on her right hand. The others turned in her direction as she began to sway, her eyes met Jace’s and she smirked. The taste in her mouth metallic and gritty, her voice was like sandpaper as she spoke, “By the Angel…”

As soon as the last word was out of her mouth, the three Shadowhunters dropped their weapons and ran to her side. Jace reached her first and she fell into his arms, his expression changed to one of worry as his gaze swept over her paling complexion, beads of sweat quickly pooling on her face.

“What the hell happened?” Izzy asked frantically, dropping to her knees beside the two blondes. She reached out to touch the back of her hand to her best friend’s forehead, “Guys, she’s burning up!”

“She’s way too good to have just taken a hit in the middle of a battle like that. Besides, it was an easy fight. Something went wrong. This is Jaz, she doesn’t just get hurt.” Alec continued, his eyes darted around the room, making sure it was secure before turning back to the woman in his _parabatai’s_ arms.

Jace shook his head, “It had to have happened when the mundane girl got in the way. Jaz was in the rafters, I-”

The Lightwood siblings cut him off, “What mundane?”

“The mundane I bumped into before we came inside. We stopped because she could see us, we think she has the Sight. She must have followed us in. Before I was able to take the shifter down, she stepped in and pushed it out of my way. I pushed the mundane behind me to keep her from being attacked, then Jaz jumped down from the rafters between me and the demon.” His left hand came into contact with the sticky substance soaking through Jaz’s t-shirt and leather vest, he pulled it away and lifted the garments, revealing the wound on her stomach. “I didn’t see what happened, but if I had to guess, I’d say this was meant for me.”

“We need to get her back to the Institute, she’s losing consciousness.” Izzy stated firmly.

Jace carefully laid Jaz’s head in his lap and used his stele to once again activate the _Iratze rune_ on her left flank. He gently moved the hair sticking to her forehead as she slowly blinked her eyes open and looked at him. He smirked, relieved to see that she would be all right, “You know, there are better ways to gain my attention than demon venom and quite literally falling at my feet, Hawk.”

“Ah, but where’s the fun in that, Falcon?” The smile on Jaz’s face was faint, but Jace caught a glimpse of it anyway.

***

Jaz’s eyes shot open and her hand immediately found the spot where the wound on her abdomen had been, she pushed back the blanket, lifted the hem of the grey t-shirt she now wore and sunk back into the bed upon realizing that it was no longer there. She glanced around the room, noticing a red-haired woman in the bed directly across from her. She squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to clear her vision but when she opened them again, the redhead still occupied in the other bed. Jaz recognized the redhead as the woman she and Jace met outside Pandemonium, evidently the same woman responsible for her being laid up in bed. Izzy’s dark hair caught Jaz’s eye and she tuned into the conversation between her friend and the mundane as best she could.

“You really don’t know much, do you?” Izzy had asked the redhead, she was sitting on the edge of her bed.

“All I know is some psychos took my mother, and now you people have taken me.” The young woman turned in Jaz’s direction, then back to Izzy, “Who is that and why is she staring at me?”

Izzy chuckled softly, sending a bright smile to Jaz before addressing the woman in front of her, “And by ‘taken’ I assume you mean ‘saved your life’? That is Jaz, one of the people responsible for saving your life.”

“No, I don’t remember seeing her in my loft.”

“I mean before that, in Pandemonium. That demon’s venom was meant for Jace, if Jaz hadn’t jumped in front of him, he wouldn’t have been there to help you.”

Jaz laid back against her pillows, still a little groggy but her face lit up when Alec and Jace both walked into the infirmary. The taller man stopped next to Izzy, eyeing the redhead suspiciously. But Jace made his way over to Jaz’s side, taking a seat on the bed next to her. The smile on her face widened as she looked up at him.

“How are you feeling, Hawk?” Jace’s voice was soft, he carefully lifted her shirt to inspect the site where the wound from the demon had once marked her skin. “Bold move jumping in front of a demon like that, bold and stupid.”

“Ah, don’t worry, Falcon. Just add that to the number of times I risked my life to save your ass. You can pay me back with a new vest.” Jaz smirked as Jace rolled his eyes at her and pulled the t-shirt back down over her torso.

“Yeah, whatever. Look, I gotta go handle something, try not to be mauled by any more demons while I’m gone.” Jace moved to get up from the bed and walked over to where Alec and Izzy were sitting with the mundane.

Jaz watched her friends, trying her best to tune into the conversation again, but she was still a little weak and before she knew it, the blonde was slipping back into the darkened pull of sleep.


	2. The Descent Into Hell Isn't Easy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Shadowhunters prepare to take Clary after the warlock, Dot, Jace expresses his reservations at allowing Jaz to go with them. Knowing how important this is to her, he begrudgingly agrees, and tensions mount between them. However, when Dot is unable to be located, the two blondes slowly repair the tear between them when they suggest taking Clary to the City of Bones to meet with the Silent Brothers. While in the City, Jace and Jaz are forced to reconcile their difference in opinion when Clary's mundane friend, Simon, is suddenly kidnapped...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is finally up, enjoy!

Jace and Alec stood at the bottom of the stairs, watching Jaz move around the training room; she held a seraph blade securely in her right hand, her feet swiftly moved around the floor as she danced her way through a series of arching and sweeping movements. Even after having spent their whole lives watching each other train, the two men still marveled at how well Jaz seemed to glide around the room, feet barely touching the floor.

Catching sight of them from the corner of her eye, Jaz lowered the blade and turned to them with a smile. She made note of the fact that they were slightly geared up as if about to head out for a mission, her smile faded only just before she cocked her head to the side and glanced between the men before her. “Going somewhere?”

“We need to talk to you, all right?” Jace said, stepping up onto the training room platform. Now came the hard part, the part where he looked his best friend in the eye and told her she was being sidelined, the part where he would suggest she stayed behind, the part where he would look to his _parabatai_ to back him up in his decision, and the part where she would go anyway because that’s just how she was. Jace knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that asking Jazmine Summerwell to stay behind on any mission was a mission in itself, but it had to be done. So when Jaz made no movement to acknowledge his request to talk, he continued, “We’re taking Clary and the mundane to go after Dot.”

“Great. Well, give me a few minutes and I’ll get changed.” Jaz’s face lit up, she’d been waiting for an excuse to leave the Institute again after what had happened earlier that evening, she also wanted to find out more about Clary and how it was possible for her to suddenly be a new Shadowhunter. Her smile fell when she noticed the look passed between them, “Okay, what is it now?”

“Look, Jaz, we just think it’d be best if you stayed here while we take Clary to find Dot.” Jace rolled his eyes and shot Alec an annoyed glance when the older man lightly jabbed him in the ribs, “Okay, fine. _I_ think it’d be best if you stayed behind. You were just passed out in the infirmary not even an hour ago.”

“Haha, real funny Jace. I’m going.”

“Are you forgetting the part where a shapeshifting demon sunk its claws into you?”

Jaz laughed, staring at the man in front of her. She was more than happy that he cared about her wellbeing, but at the same time, she wondered if he remembered that she had trained and fought through worse than a silly scratch from a demon. She shook her head, “Aww, what’s wrong, Wayland? Afraid you’ll be shown up by an injured woman? The same injured woman who took demon venom for you, no less?”

The blonde scowled, knitting his eyebrows together in frustration. “Hey, no one told you to jump your ass in front of me like that.”

“Yeah, but no one told her not to, either. And we both know she would have done it regardless.” Alec spoke up finally, taking note of the fact that Jaz, like Jace, did whatever it took to see missions through to the end.

“Exactly, Jace, you know me. You’ve watched me train since we were kids. You’ve seen firsthand what I can do. I’ll be fine.”

“No, you’re not going and that’s final. It’s not up for debate.”

Jaz sighed and lifted her deep chocolate eyes to meet Jace’s own blue-brown orbs, she knew what she had to say next and she knew that he wouldn’t be able to tell her no after that. “Do you remember that story about the two kids and their birds, Jace?” When he gave her nothing but a small nod, she continued. “Then trust that I’ll come back in one piece this time, all right? All of us, or none at all, Falcon.”

The tension in Jace’s body prickled before ebbing away, he relaxed upon hearing the seven words of that damn promise along with the name only she used for him. The same promise the two of them made each other when his dad died, the same promise they made on the day they moved into the Institute with the Lightwoods. He sighed before shaking his head and echoing her words, “Yeah, okay. All of us, or none at all, Hawk.”

Jaz smiled and gave both of the men a pat on their backs before making her way down the steps and across the Ops Center toward the hallway that would lead back to her room. Jace shook his head and watched her disappear from view, “If the mundane doesn’t beat her to it, that woman is going to be the death of me.”

“Told you.” Alec offered, chuckling.

***

Not even ten minutes later, Jaz was showered, dressed, geared up and ready to go. Nothing was going to keep her from going on a mission, especially an unsanctioned one. She had no doubt that her blonde counterpart talked Alec out of getting approval for this one, just as they had talked him out of getting approval for the one that would have sidelined her in the first place. She glanced at herself once more in the mirror then turned to go find the others, but was stopped when Jace’s muscular frame appeared in her doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. She rolled her eyes with a groan, “Seeing as you practically live in my doorway, you should consider moving in, Wayland.”

The corners of Jace’s mouth twitched up into a teasing smirk, “Ah, you couldn’t handle all of this all of the time, Summerwell.”

“You’d be surprised to find what I can handle, Jace.” Jaz replied, confidently flirting back with a wink.

“Yeah, okay, whatever. Let’s get going. Here.” He reached around behind him and produced Jaz’s stele from his back pocket, handing it to her. “Never leave home without it, right?”

The young woman smiled, her fingers brushed across his own as she took hold of her stele from him. She ignored the electricity that shot through her hand and stepped passed him, exiting her room with him following behind her.

A couple minutes passed and Jace decided to break the silence, “Hey, what happened earlier at Pandemonium? Why did you jump in front of me like that? You’re reckless, Jaz, but you’re not stupid.”

“Clary had followed us in, Jace. She was in the way, you were distracted, and that demon was out for blood. We protect people from the Shadow World, remember? At the time, it was believed that she was simply a helpless mundane with the Sight. There was a threat, a decision needed to be made and I made one.” Jaz glanced over at him,  “Don’t expect me to apologize for doing my job. I made a choice, Jace, and I would do it all over again if I needed to.”

“Will you stop for a moment and listen to me!” Jace’s hand shot out and grabbed the blonde’s upper arm, pulling her back toward him. “We hunt demons, Jazmine. We don’t get to decide who lives or dies, and we certainly don’t make stupid mistakes for mundanes.”

“That’s exactly what we do, Jace! We risk our lives every single day to ensure the safety of mundanes from the Shadow World. Why are you being so unreasonable about this?”

“Because, I- Forget it, let’s go.” He released his hold on Jaz’s arm and kept walking.

Anger bubbled up from her throat and before she could stop herself, she was shouting at the back of his head. “Damn it, Jace, what the hell are you so afraid of?!”

Jaz stormed after the stubborn man, frustration etched across her features. Why was he being such an asshole about it? She was fine, she had fought through worse things than demon venom, they both had. She had been given the all-clear to resume her duties, and there was no way he could expect her to be okay with staying behind. She sighed, shaking her head as she met up with the others. She descended the steps into the Ops Center and waited, noting the distraught look on the mundanes face. Jaz chuckled, she knew for a fact that the look of terror had to have come from Jace spinning some tale about the runes on the floor killing mundanes.

***

The four Shadowhunters, Clary, and Simon entered the now vacant Pandemonium and rushed toward the back room from earlier. Upon entering the room, Jaz faltered, an unreadable expression painting its way onto her face. She glanced up at the scaffolding to the spot where she had been moments before taking the demon’s scratch. She shook her head, returning to the conversation happening in front of her.

“Hey, Jaz, you okay?” Izzy asked, gently nudging the blonde with her elbow.

Jaz offered her friend a small nod, “Yep, just committing to memory a reminder to not save Jace’s life next time.”

Izzy nodded back, realizing that she wouldn’t get anything else out of the woman, and the two returned to the conversation before them.

“It’s not safe here. We have to go back to the Institute right now.” Alec was saying, giving the redhead a stern look.

“So, what now? Valentine has my mom and Dot, and we’re just gonna give up? What about my memories? They can’t just be gone?” Clary asked, looking between Jace and Alec.

The two blondes shared a look before turning their attention to Alec. Jaz nodded and Jace voiced their thoughts, “There is another option.”

“Don’t even.” “Absolutely not.” Izzy and Alec scolded the two without hesitation.

“I’m not afraid of the Silent Brothers.”

Clary took a step closer to Jace, ignoring the disapproving looks on the Lightwoods faces, “Who are the Silent Brothers?”

“They’re Shadowhunters with superior powers.” Jace began.

“Who possess the ability to recover memories.” Izzy followed.

“They can reach through the most secured minds.” Jaz offered.

“A process that can also kill you, so there’s that.” Alec closed.

Simon pointed sarcastically at Alec, “Your bedside manner is abysmal.”

Alec rolled his eyes and stepped in front of Jace and Jaz, glancing between the two with a look of disapproval. “We’ve broken at least 18 Clave rules and now you want to go to the City of Bones? There’s no way. I won’t allow it.”

“Alec, come on. How many things have we done lately that you haven’t approved of? It’ll be fine.” Jaz smiled sweetly at the older man, earning a chuckle from Izzy and Jace. One thing everyone seemed to know, was that Jaz usually got her way when it came to Jace and Alec.

“Fine? Jaz, are you completely forgetting the fact that you were just released for active missions not even 2 hours ago? Or that you took demon venom for this girl, and she hasn't so much as thanked you? No. I don't support this, no.” Alec shook his head, ignoring his friend’s attempt to get her way and waited for Jace’s response.

Jaz’s shoulders sagged and she shrugged, giving Jace her best ‘hey, I tried, he's your _parabatai_ …’ look, before gesturing for Jace to try again.

The other blonde met Alec’s firm glance with one of his own, “This isn't our choice to make.” He turned to the redhead on the other side of him, “It’s Clary’s.”

“You can't ask her to do this. She doesn’t know what she’s facing. She’s not prepared.” Izzy said firmly, looking at her friends.

“It’s a good thing we aren’t asking her then. Look, guys, without her warlock friend, we’re no closer to finding the Mortal Cup. It’s up to her, but you know we have to do this.” Jaz said, directing her reply to Alec again.

“If anyone can tell me another way to recover my memories and still get the answers we need, I’m listening.” Clary looked around the group of Shadowhunters, none of them moved to speak again. “That settles it.”

Jace grinned, patting Alec on the shoulder. “See? I told you she’s one of us.”

***

Jaz and Jace led Clary down the stone steps into the City of Bones, pausing before they reached the bottom, their eyes darted around the room as the shrieking from the now disturbed bats met their ears. The blondes shared a look, exhaled once, then kept moving. Clary waited a moment, watching them move away from her, she sighed deeply and resumed her descent down the stairs.

They all stopped further into the tunnels where the lights from outside the City could no longer reach. Jace and Jaz both reached into their pockets and pulled out stone-shaped objects that lit up instantly, just like the seraph blade had when Clary picked it up.

“What’s that?” She asked, studying the light in their hands.

“It’s a witchlight. We carry it with us to remind us that light can be found in even the darkest of places. And it’s cooler than a flashlight.” Jace replied, keeping his voice low. “Here.” He was just about to hand the young woman his witchlight, but Jaz stopped him.

“Here you go, Sunshine. Use mine, you can thank me later.” With a wink and the sweetest smile she had given the young woman since they’d met, Jaz handed Clary her witchlight. She turned to face Jace who offered her a knowing smirk, then pointed to the Angel statue a few feet away.

“Is that meant to be the Mortal Cup?” Clary asked when they’d stopped in front of it.

“Yeah.” Jace answered, watching her take in the sight before them. He and Jaz shared a look, both of them feeling something every time they came to the City of Bones, a mixture of terror and wonder. They were often swept up by these feelings in the presence of the Silent Brothers; but more importantly, the fact that someone else understood perfectly how exhilarating it was to visit the City of Bones.

Jace studied Jaz’s face, he decided that under the witchlight, she sort of looked like an angel herself… something he would never admit out loud. That was their problem, though - neither of them would ever openly admit that they had any sort of feelings for each other. He thought about what Clary had called them earlier that evening, ‘emotionless G.I. Joe,’ except for the fact that he had no idea what a G.I Joe was, she had been right about them being emotionless. But just because they never expressed their emotions, didn’t mean they were incapable of having them at all. Jace’s attention was ripped away from his friend when Clary’s voice broke through his thoughts.

“What’s that say?” Clary asked, moving her hand toward the stone sword in the statue's hand with an inscription that read _Nephilim Facilis Descensus Averno_.

“It’s the Shadowhunter creed. ‘Looking better in black than the widows of our enemies.’” Jace answered simply, sending a wink in Jaz’s direction.

“Hell yeah, we do!” Jaz exclaimed, bumping her fist against Jace’s before the two leaned forward, flexing their biceps.

The corner of Clary’s mouth twitched up in a small smirk, “My Latin’s pretty rusty, but I’m almost positive that’s not what that says.”

“For Shadowhunters, the descent into hell is easy.” Jace read properly, pointing to each of the words as he spoke.

“That should be a postcard.” Clary remarked, taking one last look at the sword.

“It’s this way.” Jace pointed to the right of the statue and the three of them moved through the doorway to the next room. Once in the room, Jace put his witchlight back in his pocket and retrieved Jaz’s from Clary, they kept walking.

Clary stopped Jace a third time, “I’m sorry about what I said before about your mom… and Jaz’s parents. I didn’t know.”

Jace smirked, he felt Jaz stiffen next to him but let it slide and addressed Clary, “It’s cute, you assume I have feelings. I don’t, and Jaz doesn’t either. Save the apologies for the mundanes. Everyone has a sad song.” His eyes flickered momentarily to Jaz’s face, then settled somewhere down the long tunnel, “My mother died when I was a baby. My father died when I was 10.”

“Jace’s dad was the only parent I’ve ever known.” Jaz told the young woman, joining Jace’s gaze down the tunnel in front of them.

“Wait, so you two are what? Like, adopted siblings or something?” Clary asked, not bothering to mask the hopeful tone in her voice. At her question, Jace and Jaz’s gazes snapped back to each other and the two shared a good laugh, causing Clary to place her hands on her hips and tap her foot impatiently. “I don’t see what’s so funny.”

“Look, the point is, both of my parents died when I was really little before I was even old enough to remember them. It’s like Jace said, everyone has a sad song. We just don’t sing ours anymore.”

Clary looked at their faces, a hint of sadness appeared in her eyes, “I’m so sorry. Wait, are they… are they buried here?”

Jace shook his head, “No, Circle members are considered traitors. They forfeit their right to be buried here.”

“Your dad was in the Circle, too?”

“My father tried to do the right thing and leave the Circle and it cost him his life.”

“That’s why you’re doing all this, why you’re helping me.” Clary replied as the realization struck her, disappointment crossing her features.

A stern look etched its way onto Jace’s face, “Valentine and his people need to pay, I’m gonna make them pay.”

Jaz watched the exchange between Jace and Clary, she knew how much Jace hated discussing the details of his father’s death, more so, how much he hated that Valentine was at the root of it. The only person who understood completely what Jace felt about Valentine and the Circle, was Jaz. His dad had raised her, too. He’d taught her about Shadowhunting, trained her, disciplined her right alongside Jace. And she was there when he had tried to right his wrongdoings and paid for it with his life.

She stepped up next to Jace’s side and placed her hand on his shoulder, “No, Falcon, we’re gonna make them pay.”

“Okay, no, seriously are you like, brother and sister or is there something going on between you two?”

The two blondes shook their heads, ignoring Clary’s question, they chuckled and continued toward the room at the end of the tunnel. Once there, Clary’s attention was drawn to the carving in the floor, a giant eye rune lay in a circle with bones lining the outer edge.

“I’ve drawn this before. But I don’t know what it means.” Clary stated, staring intently at the rune.

“It means _Clairvoyance_.” Jace answered. All of a sudden, the torches around the room lit up, revealing the robed men that held them up. Their mouths and eyes were all sewn shut, the Silent Brothers. Skeletons also lined the walls behind them.

A single man stood in the middle of the room, he slowly approached the three adults in front of him, his voice ringing out into the open air. _Shadowhunters…_ He held out his hand to the redhead and motioned to the ground. _Come into the Circle._

Clary stepped forward, then glanced over her shoulder at Jace and Jaz. When Jace moved to join her, the Silent Brother held his hand up to stop him. _Step away, Jace Wayland._

Jaz pulled Jace back to her side after he stepped up and let Clary know that they’d be right behind her. Both of the Shadowhunters stood with their arms crossed over their chests, watching as the Brothers began the process of extracting Clary’s memories. They’d seen this done before, yet even now, it still drew them in.

“So, hey… what exactly did Clary mean when she apologized for what she said about our parents?” Jaz asked, leaning over so Jace could hear her.

“Nothing. She just made a comment about how we couldn’t possibly understand what she’s going through with her mom, what it’s like to lose one.” Jace whispered back, eyes flicking over Jaz’s face before returning to the redhead. “She also called us an emotionless G.I. Joe, whatever that means.”

Jaz quirked an eyebrow, “What is a G.I. Joe?”

“That’s what I said. Anyway, I told her she was right, we never knew our mothers.”

“She really has no idea what the Shadow World is like, Jace. If she’s going to be a Shadowhunter, it’s up to us to teach her.”

Jace nodded, “I agree. Look, Jaz, about what happened between us back at the Institute… I wasn’t trying to be an ass.”

“Then why were you so insistent on making me stay behind?” Jaz turned to face him, the tension between them from earlier had ebbed away awhile ago, and now she looked at him with calm eyes.

“Because you could have died.” Jace sighed, running his hands through his hair and turned to her. His eyes were steady as they held hers. “Any more venom and you could have died, Jaz. Then where would we be? What about Alec and Izzy, what would they do without you? What would I do without you?”

“Jace, risking our lives is what we do every day. I love being a Shadowhunter, you know that. If I give my life protecting mundanes, I would consider it an honor.”

“I know, Jaz. And that’s why you’re the best of us. But the same way it would kill me to lose Alec, it would kill me to lose you, too.”

A small smile painted its way onto the blonde’s face, “Well, then I guess it’s a good thing I’m not planning on going anywhere anytime soon. But, Jace, you have to trust that I know what I’m doing well enough to be okay. I’m going to get hurt, you can’t stop that. You can have my back, though, just like always.”

“Yeah, yeah. You know I’ll always have your back. All of us, or none at all, Hawk.” Jace promised, smirking back at her.

“All of us, or none at all, Falcon.”

***

Jaz, Jace, and Clary emerged from the city’s entrance, all three wore grim expressions on their faces.

“What happened? What did you find out?” Alec asked, approaching them slowly.

“Valentine is Clary’s father.” Jace answered, looking back at his _parabatai_.

Alec quickly looked between the three of them, “Wait a minute. You’re telling me this girl shows up out of nowhere and she’s Valentine’s daughter? Did it occur to you that she might be a spy? This might be part of her plan?”

“That’s enough, Alec.”

“Jaz? What do you think?”

The blonde stiffened, she loved Alec and she loved Jace, but she hated being put on the spot between them. She sighed, “I think… we need to find the Mortal Cup before he does.”

“Do you think I planned for my mom to get kidnapped? Or… or for Dot to be taken? Or to have a giant sword dangled over my head and to find out that my father is one of the most dangerous people in the world? Really?” Clary’s voice broke as she looked around them for Simon, who was nowhere in sight. “Where’s Simon? Where’s Simon?”

At that moment, Izzy ran up to them, “I told him to stay in the van. I’ve searched everywhere.”

“He’s gone?”

“I can’t find him.” Izzy answered, shaking her head with a sigh.

“You were supposed to be watching him!” The redhead yelled, pushing passed Izzy.

“Ugh, these mundanes are killing me.” Jace remarked.

“I bet my brush with demon venom doesn’t seem so horrible now, does it?” Jaz asked, smirking at him.

“Too soon.” Jace answered, patting her shoulder and running after Clary.

Clary was the first to reach the van, its doors had been left wide open and Simon’s phone was in the front passenger seat. “Simon? No. Simon!”

“Is that the mundane’s name?” A male voice shouted out, “I’m afraid Simon’s coming with us.”

Five bodies turned in the direction of the voice and looked up, standing on one of the bridge’s horizontal supports were two people, a man, and a woman. The woman had Simon by one of his ankles and was dangling him upside-down in front of her.

“What are you doing here Raphael?” Jaz called out, recognizing the voice that spoke to them. When Jace and Alec both jabbed her in the ribs, she shrugged, knowing she’d have to explain how she knew who Raphael was.

Raphael nodded, acknowledging the young woman. “Ah, Jaz… how lovely of you to join us, _Angelito_. One wrong move and she drops the mundane unless you call off your guard dog.”

Jaz stepped forward, raising her hands to silence both of the men next to her. “All right, Raphael, name your terms. Just don’t hurt the mundane.”

“No! No, he’s not a part of this.” Clary yelled back, running forward, only to be stopped by Jace.

“And it’ll be my pleasure to kill you unless you return him.”

“Careful. We’d be violating the Accords.” Alec reminded.

“I’m afraid your sidekick’s right. The Night Children have broken no laws. We’re negotiating. The mundane, unharmed, in exchange for the Mortal Cup. And the clock is ticking. Tick-tock, people.” Raphael offered, then as quickly as they had appeared, he and the woman vanished with Simon in tow.

Jace, Alec, and Izzy turned to Jaz as Clary screamed out for Simon. They crossed their arms over their chests, giving her judging looks. Jace spoke up first, “Care to explain how one of the Night Children knows who you are?”

“We’re Shadowhunters, Jace. People are going to know who we are.” The blonde replied with a shrug.

“They’re Downworlders, Jaz. Don’t be stupid.” Alec scolded her.

Izzy smirked, “Looks like Jace has his work cut out for him. Wouldn’t you say so, Jazzy?”


	3. Dead Man's Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Shadowhunters race against the clock to save Simon from Raphael and Camille. Along the way, Jace and Jaz begin to discover things about each other that they hadn't allowed themselves to face before, but tensions mount between Alec and Jace causing a rift between the two. At least they save the mundane in the end.

The four young Shadowhunters gathered around one of the tables in the Ops Center, waiting for Clary to finish scolding them for losing Simon.

“Uh, look at all this stuff, these screens. I mean, can any of this help me find Simon? Where is he anyway? Some kind of crypt in Transylvania?”

“Actually, no. That was Camille’s outfit, right? They’re locals.” Jace answered, leaning against the chair in front of him.

“They’re at the Hotel DuMort down in Gansevoort Street,” Izzy confirmed.

“Yeah.”

The dark-haired woman glanced at Jaz where she stood next to Jace. “But I get the feeling our little _Angelito_ already knew something about that. Huh, Jaz?”

“And we came back here? Why? We have to go there. Let’s go, now. Come on.” Clary said, turning to leave.

“We need a Clave resolution for that.” Alec countered, stopping the redhead in her tracks.

“The four- five of us can’t declare war on the vamps all by ourselves.” Izzy put in, looking at Alec, Jace, and Jaz.

“And we can’t react without considering our options. Downworlders are slaves to their impulses. We’re not.”

“Alec, you can’t just jump on all the Downworlders.”

Alec looked at his sister with a smirk, “Oh, that’s right. Seelies have their charms, apparently.”

“Right,” Jace said, smiling at the younger Lightwood.

“Seelies?” Clary questioned.

“Like faeries. The Fair Folk. Add pixies, nixies, elves… anybody half-angel, half-demon. It’s pretty much a catch-all term.” Jace answered.

“Izzy can tell you all about them. She’s got a thing.” Alec looked back at his sister, raising his eyebrows playfully.

“We’ve all got our things, don’t we?” She shot back, then glanced over her shoulder at the blonde woman again. “And apparently, so does Jazmine…”

Jace and Alec turned their attention to Jaz as Izzy stopped speaking. The young woman groaned under their gazes, she knew she’d have to explain what happened outside the City of Bones sooner or later. She had been hoping for later.

“Oh, yeah. Jaz, care to share what the hell all of that was back there?” Jace asked the woman next to him, standing up and crossing his arms over his chest.

“It wasn’t anything, Wayland. Raphael is just a friend.” She replied, shrugging off his warning look.

“Really? So, you just happen to be buddies with one of the Night Children? He’s a vampire, Jaz.”

“Jace, seriously, it’s not a big deal.”

Alec chuckled, giving Jaz his best teasing smile. “If it’s not a big deal, why don’t you answer the question? Or do all of your ‘friends’ call you _Angelito_?”

Before Jaz had a chance to answer, Clary spoke up impatiently, moving around the table and looking back at the four Shadowhunters before making her way to the door. “Okay, I can’t listen to this. Simon’s been kidnapped by vampires. I guess I’ll just take care of it myself.”

“Clary, you’re gonna get yourself killed,” Jace called after her, abandoning his interrogation of his best friend. “Clary. Simon, too.”

Jaz silently thanked the Angel for Clary’s stubbornness and made a mental note to do something nice for the young woman once everything had blown over. “Jace is right. If you walk in there without a plan and just demand that they give you Simon back, if you make one wrong move, you’re both as good as dead. You need to think this through.”

“Then, help me. While we consider other options, my best friend is suffering. Is that something Shadowhunters understand or am I just being a mundane?”

“Clary’s right.” Jace began as they all huddled closer around the table, he continued in a low voice. “They made the first move. We’re gonna take care of this ourselves, right now.”

“This is a bad idea. I-” Alec said, placing his hand down in the middle of the table.

“What, have you got a better one? Look, the vamps broke the Accords. They kidnapped a mundie. That’s a big no-no. The Clave will give us a lecture and then they’ll be glad we did it. Come on.”

“Hard to argue with that,” Izzy said, offering Jace her support.

Alec looked up at his sister, then met Jace’s eyes. “Even if we went ahead, I don’t see how we get out of here without having to explain where we’re going. We need weapons, and we can’t let anyone see us get them.”

“I know where to get what we need.” Jace finished, glancing at the others.

“Jaz, care to weigh in? Seeing as you’re… whatever you two are.” Alec addressed the blonde woman where she stood in her usual spot at Jace’s right side.

“Hey, if he won’t listen to you, what makes you think he’ll listen to me?” Jaz offered up sarcastically, the playful smile on her face fell when Alec looked at her seriously. She sighed. “All right, look, Raphael is at least a man of his word. He won’t hurt the mundie unless he doesn’t get what he wants, and even then, he wouldn’t risk breaking the Accords at all. Camille on the other hand…”

“Cut to the chase, _Angelito_.”

“I’m going to pretend that didn’t just come out of your mouth, Alexander Gideon Lightwood. Anyway, I say we go. Could be fun.”

“Your definition of fun and my definition of fun are two entirely different things, Jazmine Raina Lianna Summerwell. Whatever, let’s go.”

~~~

Clary parked Simon’s van outside of a church cemetery and got out of the driver’s seat while the others slowly emerged from the passenger doors.

“Whose grave is it?” Alec asked, closing the back doors once Izzy and Jaz had climbed out.

Izzy read the information off of her phone as they began walking, “Mary Milligan, born January 10th, 1802. Died, January 10th, 1878.”

“All right, Alec. Let’s go. You, too, Jaz.” Jace instructed, and the three of them made their way toward the cemetery.

“Wait, what are we looking for?” Clary asked before the three of them could walk away.

“Cache of weapons,” Izzy stated simply.

“Stashed here with Mrs. Milligan.” Jace followed up.

“Why are there Shadowhunter weapons in a churchyard?”

“Because all of the ancient religions recognized demons. Or they used to.” Izzy remarked, looking around the churchyard.

Alec kept his gaze forward, “They forgot about the threat because we’ve been here to protect them. Typical mundane failure of imagination.”

“Oh, Alec…” Jaz groaned.

“Are you saying we did too good a job? You just can’t let up, can you?” Izzy asked, stopping to give her brother disapproving look.

“You know what? Alec, why don’t you go check out by the Angel.” Jace instructed, looking back over his shoulder at the Lightwood siblings. Once Alec had walked off, Jace pulled Jaz aside, his eyes making quick work of the woman’s face. He carefully studied the way she held herself, the way her forehead creased ever so slightly when she was deep in thought. His eyes moved to Clary momentarily and he took in the sight of her as well. He thought back to what Jaz had told him in the City of Bones, how it was their job to make sure Clary knew what it meant to be a Shadowhunter, he couldn’t think of anyone more qualified to teach the redhead than Jaz.

“Jace, what is it? What’s wrong?” Jaz asked, her own eyes trained on his face, trying to read his expression.

His blue-brown eyes snapped back to her face and held her deep chocolate gaze, “I know we’ve all been teasing you mercilessly about the vamp, but do you think you could use some of that charm of yours and talk him into letting the mundane go?”

“Uh, Jace, what exactly do you think is going on between me and Raphael?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

“Aw, don’t tell me you’re jealous, Wayland.” Jaz clicked her tongue, a bright smile painting its way across her lips.

The corners of his mouth twitched up in a teasing smirk, “Only in your dreams, Summerwell.”

She stepped closer so that their faces were mere inches apart, “It’s really too bad I don’t dream then. Isn’t it, Jace?”

The two blondes stood there for a while, staring intently into each other’s eyes when Clary cleared her throat behind them. The moment was quickly forgotten, and Jace turned his attention to the redhead a few feet away from them. “We couldn’t gear up at the Institute, but we know our ancestors left a cache around here someplace. We’ll find it.”

“I used to wonder where my dad was buried. I used to wish he was still alive… Be careful what you wish for.” Clary sighed, looking up at Jace with a sad look in her eyes.

“This isn’t your fault.”

“This is all my fault.”

Before Jace could say anything else, Izzy’s phone beeped and her voice met their ears. “Excellent. He’s home. I’m outta here.”

“Wait, aren’t you coming with us?” Clary asked before the dark-haired woman could get very far.

Izzy turned and answered her, “Oh, I wouldn’t miss it for the world, but I gotta figure out how to get into the vampire’s lair.”

“Unless Jaz wants to enlighten us since I’m pretty sure she knows,” Jace remarked, jabbing Jaz playfully in the ribs.

The blonde groaned and rolled her eyes, shaking her head, she walked off in the direction that Alec had gone earlier.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Jace called over his shoulder to Izzy as she left.

“Jace… over here.” Alec’s voice came a moment later, calling Jace to him.

“Yeah, coming.” He called out to his _parabatai_ , then turned to Clary. “Are you gonna be all right?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m just, um… Just give me a minute, okay?” Clary finally responded.

“Okay.” Jace left Clary where she was and joined Jaz and Alec over at the angel, “Yeah?”

“We’re crossing a line into vamp territory,” Alec said quietly, leaning against the angel.

Jace reached out and patted Alec on the arm, “That’s the point. Come on, Alec, cheer up. It’s going to be fun.”

Alec straightened up. “Damn it, Jace. Just think this through. You don’t even like this guy. This isn’t about the mundane, this is about Clary.”

“Oh, Alec, not now…” Jaz commented. She tossed her head back with a whine, a look of annoyance settling itself on her face.

“What, are you so desperate to get laid that you’ll risk killing us?” Alec continued.

Jaz’s eyes went wide, her jaw dropped as she looked at the two men in front of her. She blinked rapidly, regaining her focus and turned to leave. “Yeah… Okay, I don’t think I need to be here for this, so I’m just gonna… go.”

“No, stay.” Jace’s right hand wrapped around the blonde’s left arm, pulling her back to his side and holding her securely in place. “Wow, um, there’s so much in that that was wrong, I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear it.”

When Jace turned to leave with Jaz, Alec grabbed him by his arm before the two could get very far. “That’s the problem. You’re not listening. Not to this or anything else I’ve said tonight. You don’t even know this girl.”

Jace’s arm folded behind his back as he placed Jaz somewhat protectively behind him, he relaxed slightly feeling her hand lay flat against the space between his shoulder blades. He stepped them closer to Alec so he could speak quietly, “Is this about her being Valentine’s daughter? Haven’t we been through this? Alec, look at me. You can trust her, or not. I don’t care. That’s not my business. But if you don’t trust me-”

“Guys, take a break, okay?” Jaz’s voice was soft, pleading with her two best friends to take it easy, even though she knew it was a longshot. She sighed, dropping her shoulders comfortably when Jace moved the two of them off to the side, gently pulling her around to face him.

“Don’t believe everything you hear Alec say, all right?” Jace said, finally releasing his hold on her arm. His eyes slowly moved over the woman’s face, attempting to read her expression.

“Jace, you don’t need to explain yourself to me.” She sighed, shrugging off the slight disappointment she’d felt when the blonde man hadn’t denied Alec’s accusation. “Do whatever- or whoever you want, I won’t stop you.” She took a slight step back, signaling that she was ready to walk away and leave the conversation behind them.

“Jaz, that’s not what I meant…” Jace’s hand shot out quickly, an automatic reaction to the young woman’s movements and he pulled her back to him once again. His right hand reached up and cupped her left cheek, thumb stroking back and forth slowly, offering her some comfort. His eyes locked on hers, an unexplainable wave of heat passing between them. When she didn’t pull away, he leaned forward, eyes traveling from the warm brown pools of her irises he’d found himself lost in, to the tiny smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Jaz hummed, relaxing her cheek into the warmth of his hand, unable to keep herself from leaning into his touch. It had occurred to her briefly that as cocky as they were, there may have been something developing between them. The problem, however, was that they had been taught that their emotions kept them from reaching their full potential as Shadowhunters. Yet here she stood, with the one person she trusted the most in the world and she found herself wanting him. Jaz noticed that there was now only mere inches separating the two of them, their breaths mingling with each other the closer Jace’s face got to hers.

“Jace! Alec! I think I found it! Mary Milligan!” Clary’s voice tore through the remaining space between the two blondes, bringing them back to the moment and the task at hand. She ran her hands over the gravestone as the others joined her. "Beloved servant? Who wants that on a headstone?" 

"Someone who is in service to a cause greater than themselves." Alec replied, walking around the grave and leaning against it. 

"At least she is now," Jace said as he brushed the leaves off of the surface. 

"Abracadabra," Jaz smirked at the three people in front of her and leaned forward with her stele in hand. 

"Wait, you people actually say that?" Clary mused. 

"No, Clary, we don't." She moved her stele over the _Angelic Power rune_ at the center of the stone cover, then with Jace and Alec's help, turned it around to reveal the crate sitting inside of it. She reached in and opened up the crate, inside it was filled with exactly what they'd been looking for. 

"Whoa, where's Mrs. Milligan?" Clary stared down into the weapons cache in disbelief, then reached inside and pulled out one of the seraph blades. 

"Don't touch that. You don't know how to use it." Alec turned to face the redhead, staring down at her. 

"What, like at Pandemonium when I killed that demon?" 

"You didn't kill-" 

"Alec. I'm gonna show her the right way to use it." Jace cut in, drawing the older man's attention to him. "Do you see what you need in here?" 

The dark-haired man turned back to the crate as Clary walked off. "No. There's no bow here. I need one. I have to rune some arrows. That's back at the Institute. I gotta go." 

"Well, how are you gonna get back in the Institute?" Jace asked curiously, walking around the grave to stand in front of his _parabatai_. 

"Go in the back. Won't bother me if I'm alone." 

"Good. Go. I can finish up here." 

"Hey..." Alec began with a sigh as Jace spun around to face him again. "I understand what we need to do. And I trust you, _parabatai_... but don't ever doubt me. No matter what I said." 

Jace held his hand up in front of Alec and smiled. "It's already forgotten. I'll see you at dawn." 

"At dawn." Alec took Jace's hand and returned the sentiment. His eyes flicked over to Jaz's face as she came to stand close to them. "And take care of her." 

"Excuse you, Lightwood. I can take care of myself." The blonde leaned her arm on Jace's shoulder and smiled at the dark-haired man in front of her. 

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just be careful, all right?" 

"See you, Lightwood." 

"See you, Summerwell." Alec gave her a small nod and turned to leave. 

"All right, Pretty Boy. Go do your thing." Jaz took a small step back and waved Jace toward Clary where she stood with the weapon in her hands. 

She stood near the cache and watched as Jace taught Clary how to use the seraph blade. Her mind wandered to the first training session between her and the young blonde after they had moved to the Institute; she recalled how cocky he had been at first, only to have the session end with Jace pinned under the weight of Jaz’s left knee and her seraph blade held against his throat. She chuckled, remembering how wide his blue-brown eyes were as they’d stared up at her in shock and awe. Her trip down memory lane was interrupted as Clary’s voice met her ears.

“How do you know they’ll come back?” Clary asked, following Jace back over to the cache.

“Who? Alec and Izzy?”

“Yeah?”

Jace took a moment to meet Jaz’s gaze and smiled, then began placing his choice weapons from the cache into the inside pockets of his jacket. “We were raised together. They’re basically my brother and sister. Jaz’s too.”

“You know Alec doesn’t like me, right?” Clary asked, lowering her voice, but sent a glare in Jaz’s direction when the other woman let out a small laugh.

“Alec doesn’t like anybody,” Jace replied, closing the crate.

“Why would he help me?”

“Did you hear what he called me just then? We’re _parabatai_.” Jace moved the stone cover back into place and continued. “There’s no human bond that compares to what Alec and I have. We’re bound together for life. Bound to fight together, to protect each other. In battle, our hearts beat as one. If one of us were to die… a part of the other would die inside as well. He’ll be here, Clary.”

Jaz stepped around the grave to Jace’s side and set her dark eyes on Clary, lips pressed together in a thin line as she watched her. She breathed in slowly before she spoke up, confirming Jace’s words from a moment ago. “Alec knows what’s important, even if he doesn’t always agree with it. We aren't connected to each other the way that he and Jace are. But I know that no matter what, he has my back, and he always will. Jace and Alec are _parabatai_ , if he says Alec will be here, he’ll be here.”

Jace nodded his head in agreement with Jaz and turned to Clary, “Are you ready?”

“I’m ready.”

“You look ready. Let’s go.”

~~~

Jace and Jaz led Clary through an alley toward a building surrounded by people. The redhead looked around them, “You wanna kill time at a biker bar?”

“We can’t move in on the vamps until sunrise. Plus, there’s something I need in here.” Jace answered, giving Jaz a mischievous smirk as he led the two women into the bar.

“What, a drink?”

“I don’t drink, and before you ask, she doesn’t either.”

“We need to save Simon, not hang around a bunch of posers.” Clary shot back, following the two blondes through the bar. She glanced around the room, turning her attention back to the two Shadowhunters when she heard them chuckle at her urgency. “Jace, it’s not funny.”

“It’s kinda funny,” Jace replied with a slight quirk of his eyebrows.

Clary scoffed at the blonde, “Shouldn’t you be teaching me to fight vampires or something?”

Jaz stopped walking and set her eyes on Clary, her playful mocking cast aside for a more serious expression. “Haven’t you been listening to anything we’ve said? Moving against the vamps unprovoked will not only cause an uproar between us and the Downworld but also break the Accords. Technically they were already broken when Raphael and Camille kidnapped the mundane, b-”

“His name is Simon. Anyway, do you really need to be here? Don’t you have a vampire to run after?”

“I hate to break it to you, but if you think for one second that I want to be here chasing after you and your mundane-”

“Simon.”

Jaz folded her arms over her chest, warm brown eyes piercing into Clary’s green ones. “Whatever. Make no mistake, Princess, I am here for my team and only for my team.”

Jace stepped between the two women before either had a chance to continue their argument, he glanced over his shoulder at Clary, then trained his eyes on the blonde woman in front of him. “Jaz, run ahead to the DuMort and see if you can sneak your way in to see Raphael. I can handle things here.”

“I won’t be able to glamour my way in, but I’ll see what I can do.” Jaz tore her gaze away from Clary’s face and looked into Jace’s eyes, she sighed.

“Go on, we’ll be right behind you. And be careful.” Jace cautioned, nodding as the woman turned to leave the bar.

“I always am. And you owe me for this, Jace Wayland.” Jaz called out over her shoulder.

Jace watched her leave, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth, he called back to her retreating form. “I know, and you can kick my ass after we save the mundane.”

~~~

As quietly as she could, Jaz sneaked her way through the hotel, managing to avoid being detected by any of the vampires inhabiting it. She was just about to round the corner into the room she knew Raphael would have Simon when the familiar shrill of Clary’s voice met her ears. She peered around the corner and noted Raphael standing in front of the Shadowhunters and Clary with a knife drawn and held loosely against Simon’s throat. The blonde caught Jace’s attention out of the corner of his eye, she nodded her head slightly, signaling toward Clary who seemed to be rushing forward with her seraph blade drawn.

Jace’s gaze moved quickly, grabbing the redhead by the arm and pulling her back toward the group. “Clary! That’s not gonna work.”

“Listen to him, Clary Fairchild. Put it away. I’ve had more than enough of your friend for one day, I’d love to cut his throat. Don’t give me a reason. Put it away!” Raphael pressed the edge of his blade against the mundane’s throat, he fixed his eyes on the edge of the room’s entrance beyond Jace and spoke up again. “Jaz, it’s about time you showed up.”

“Let the mundane go, Raphael. You don’t want to hurt him, you don’t have to do this.” Jaz took her place at Jace’s right side, eyes locked on the vampire in front of her.

Clary lowered her weapon and spoke softly to the young man in front of her. “Simon. Simon, are you all right?”

“I wouldn’t say all right-” Simon’s reply was cut short as the blade was pressed harder against his neck.

“Stop, talking! Now, if you would all just follow me. Let’s go!” Raphael kept his attention trained on the blonde, slowly walking back with his arms still wrapped around Simon. He moved up a flight of stairs, and through the doorway. “Come on, let’s go! Up here now!”

The group silently followed after Raphael and Simon. Jaz’s hand was carefully tucked away in Jace’s, he gave it a reassuring squeeze, encouraging her to continue. “Let’s just stop and think about this for a minute, Raphael. I’m on your side, remember? Just trust me, no one has to get hurt.”

“That’s right, get down there now! Get down there or I’ll kill him right now!”

“All right, we’re going.”

Clary turned to face the two men behind her, “Look, we’re not gonna hurt you. We just want Simon.”

“I’m glad you do. We don’t! We wanted you.”

“Well, here I am.”

“Stop!” Jace firmly commanded the woman, pushing her back down the hall.

Jaz groaned. “You’re going to get us all killed. Is that what you want?”

Raphael moved forward, still using Simon as a shield. “I said ‘wanted’. Not my idea. Now, get out! Go.”

Alec and Izzy ascended another small flight of stairs, stopping in front of the exit as Clary addressed the vampire again. “Not without Simon.”

“Shut up! Open that door right now or I’ll kill him right here.”

“Listen to him!” Jace shouted, drawing Clary’s attention away from the man. Alec regarded his _parabatai_ briefly before stepping through the door.

“But Simon will die if-” The redhead protested stubbornly.

Raphael whimpered as sunlight streamed through the hallway, he pressed himself against the wall and pulled Simon firmly against his body.

“Clary, go!” Simon instructed.

“Go! Go! Go!” Jace pushed Clary behind Isabelle and pulled Jaz with him, his grip on her hand loosened as they made their way onto the stairs.

“Go! Take him! Go!” Raphael let the man go, shoving him toward the retreating Shadowhunters.

“I don’t know how to thank you,” Simon said, turning around to face Raphael.

“Don’t thank me. You mean nothing. This is about Valentine and the chaos he can bring.”

“Come on!” Jace grabbed Simon and pushed him through the door.

From the shadows, Raphael offered the two blondes one last instruction, stopping them before they could exit. “Jace Wayland! Remember who your friends are. I suggest you do the same, Jazmine Summerwell.”


	4. Raising Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunt for the warlock who took Clary's memories leads the team to Magnus Bane, Brooklyn's High Warlock. A meeting with Magnus goes awry when an assassin is revealed at the bar, allowing the warlock to escape. Alec's true feelings for Clary are thrown out in the open causing a rift between Jaz. An accident during the ritual to return Clary's memories almost results in the loss of two of their own. How much longer will any of them be able to keep up appearances?

Jaz pulled the dark grey V-neck over her head and sprawled out across the foot of Izzy's bed. After a long, hot shower, she'd sought out the refuge of the younger Lightwood sibling, only to be met with an empty room. The rescue mission had taken more out of her emotionally than she was willing to admit, there had been a noticeable moment between her and Jace, she'd let her irritation with the mundane sour her mood toward Clary and had to watch the redhead come between two of the people she loved the most. The shift between the four Shadowhunters was something Jaz never needed to prepare for, they had always been in perfect sync with each other until now and this worried the blonde quite a bit. Jaz didn't want to have to admit that she thought Alec should back off and give Clary a chance, nor did she want to even confront what was going on with Jace or the fact that she also felt something pulling her toward the new Shadowhunter.

"You can't hide from them forever," Izzy sighed, standing in the doorway with her dark eyes trained on the blonde.

"I'm not hiding, Izzy." Jaz shrugged, fiddling with the ties on the front of her sweatpants.

"Of course, you aren't. That's why you waited until Alec went to bed before you came straight here instead of joining Jace for your usual cooldown workout?"

"Iz, you saw what happened between them at the DuMort. Do you really think either of them wants my honest opinion right now?"

Izzy approached her bed and stood over her friend. "Yes, I do. They might be _parabatai_ , but you're the one who keeps them level-headed. And as much as I love you, Jaz, you can't hide from them forever."

"Watch me, Iz." Jaz grinned up at the woman stubbornly, she was fully prepared to avoid the others for as long as it took for things to blow over.

"No, I mean, you literally can't hide from them now. Jace sent me to find you. Hodge needs us in the Ops Center, we have a lead on who might have taken Clary's memories." Izzy chuckled and grabbed Jaz's hand, hauling her up from the bed. "Come on, you can continue sulking after we get Clary her memories back."

~

The five Shadowhunters gathered in various spots around one of the tables in the Ops Center, ten pairs of eyes trained on the large screen in front of them, listening as Hodge briefed them on the information he had of the warlock.

"Magnus Bane," the weapons instructor began, flipping through the photos on his tablet. "He's over 300 years old. And, as you can see, he's not exactly shied away from the pleasures of every century. His tastes are both exquisite… and quite excessive."

"He looks like the Downworld's David Guetta." Clary mused.

"Guetta's already a Downworlder," Izzy spoke up from across the table. "Vampire? Ever seen him in the daylight?"

Alec glanced at his sister before returning his eyes to the monitor. "Can you two focus? This is not a joke."

"Someone needs to get slayed," Izzy replied with a sigh from where she sat on the corner of the table, then leaned over and bumped her fist against Jaz's.

The blonde snorted, placing her feet on the seat of the chair in front of her and was just about to reply when Hodge turned to address the group with a stern look.

"Alec's right. Now, Magnus is one of the most powerful warlocks I've ever known. He has a deep mistrust of Shadowhunters."

"Well, then why did he help my mom remove my memories? Isn't she a Shadowhunter?"

Hodge turned his attention to Clary. "Yes, one of the best. But ‘help' might not be the most accurate word. Now, did Magnus provide a service for Jocelyn? Perhaps. But more than likely, your mother paid Magnus handsomely for his magic."

"Warlocks usually require payment before they help anyone with anything." Jace continued, moving around the chair and sitting in it with Jaz's feet resting on his knees.

The blonde woman rolled her eyes and settled them on Clary's face. "What Jace means is that there will be a price for returning your memories, just as there was one for removing them in the first place."

"Word from the Clave is that most of the warlocks have gone into hiding since Valentine began hunting them." Alec offered up, studying the monitor in front of them.

"Valentine must be searching for the warlock where did Jocelyn-" Hodge was cut off mid-sentence as the Circle rune on his neck began to sear, he turned and braced himself against the table behind him.

"Hodge, your rune. You okay?" Clary asked once he'd had a moment to recover. "So how do we find Magnus?"

"We don't. Magnus finds us. We'll set up a meeting, somewhere protected. Lure him out of hiding." Jace answered, shifting his focus back to the screen with Magnus' photo on it.

"And I know exactly where we do it." Izzy smiled wide, hopping off of the table, she moved around to Hodge's side and took the tablet from his hands. She swiped across the screen a few times, then projected what she was looking for onto the large monitor.

"A Downworld rave. Nice, Izzy."

"And where'd you get that?" Alec inquired of his sister.

"During my surveillance of the Downworlders. From what I hear, Magnus likes to party."

"He'll never go for it. Not with Valentine trying to kill him."

Jace turned to his _parabatai_. "Of course, he will. He'll blend in. Hide in plain sight."

Jaz's gaze shifted between the two men in front of her. "It's like Izzy said, Magnus can't resist a party. If all goes well, this should be easy."

"I don't know. It seems-" Clary began, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Trust me, if Magnus is coming out of hiding, he's going to one of the biggest parties of the year," Izzy confirmed.

"Never underestimate Magnus' hedonism. Or his greed. Come with me." Hodge instructed his students with a smirk.

Jaz's gaze met Jace's briefly and the two grinned; though she hadn't yet confronted Jace about what was going on between them, nothing would stop them from enjoying this mission. Jace stood up, he gently patted Jaz's knees a couple times before the blonde hopped down from the table and followed him and Alex to the training room floor. The five Shadowhunters stood behind Hodge as he knelt in front of one of the black tiles on the floor, they watched as he passed his own stele over the _Persevere rune_ on its surface and removed the tile to reveal a small hole where a necklace lay inside.

Izzy's eyes widened as Hodge stood in front of her, holding the necklace so they could see it. "Is that real?"

"A four-karat, unheated Burmese ruby. And this necklace has special meaning to Magnus Bane as it was a gift from him to his then lover, Camille Belcourt." Hodge explained, looking from the pendant that hung from his fingers to the young awestruck Shadowhunters.

"What, Camille and Magnus were lovers?" Clary asked.

"Warlock gets around," Jace spoke up, looking at Jaz and Clary.

Hodge went on to explain the importance of the necklace. "Magnus bought it in 1857 for the price of his London townhouse. Now, the jewel is enchanted with a spell that alerts the wearer to the presence of demons."

Izzy reached for the jewel, holding it gently in her hands. "It's so beautiful."

"Magnus has longed to reunite with this necklace. Offer it to him. He might just take the bait."

Jaz stepped forward and placed a soft hand on Clary's shoulder, she smiled sweetly at the redhead and gestured to the necklace in Izzy's hands. "That will be the price for returning your memories, Clary."

"I'll send Magnus a fire message to arrange the meeting," Jace began, turning to leave the room. He paused for a moment and turned to look at the others. "We have to get to Magnus before Valentine does."

~

After changing their clothes for the rave, Izzy and Jaz met Alec in the Training Room where he stood at a table inspecting his arrows. He glanced up as the two women approached him.

"Pick a weapon. I suggest your whip," Alec bit off the end of the last word sharply.

Izzy looked up at her brother, one of his arrows held gently between her fingers. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Alec took the arrow out of his sister's hands and looked it over. He glanced up at Jaz. "You should sharpen your knives. Never know when you may need to stab someone in the back again."

Jaz narrowed her eyes at the older Lightwood and frowned. "Alec, what the hell is your problem?"

"We're going to a Downworlder's rave, you should be a little more excited."

"It's a mission, not a party."

"Yeah, whatever," Izzy replied, pulling a Seraph blade from the rack. "Before Clary got here, every day was the same. Go on a mission, kill demons. Go on a mission, kill demons. At least now things are interesting."

"Interesting?" Alec looked over at his sister. "Valentine is alive and actively seeking the Cup. He threatens our entire world. And we're helping his daughter. Who, by the way, we have no reason to trust. And who showed up out of nowhere. On top of that, we're gonna end up overpaying some warlock who may or may not have the information we need. So, no, Izzy… I don't find it interesting."

Izzy walked back over to the table where Alec stood. "Whoa! Feel better now?"

"No, I don't. Okay, maybe a little." Alec answered, slinging his quiver over his right shoulder.

"You can't keep bottling things up, Alec. It's only a matter of time before they explode. And not the fun kind of explode."

"Yeah, well, Jaz almost died for this girl and she still hasn't thanked her."

Jaz stood opposite Alec, she'd found her knives and laid them out on the table, one was held securely in her hands as she sharpened its blade. Then she laid it down and did the same with the other. When she finished, she held them both up in front of her face, watching the light gleam off of the metal. "I knew she wouldn't thank me. We're Shadowhunters, Alec. We fight demons, we don't get thanked. Lighten up a little, have some fun tonight."

"All right, let's go," Alec said, reaching for his bow. He turned back to Jaz and Izzy as they followed him out. "And we're not going for the music."

~~~

"Alec and Izzy are securing the perimeter," Jace mentioned as he took his place in line outside the entrance to Hardtail with Jaz and Clary on either side of him.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? Last time we were here, this place was crawling with vampires." Clary said, suddenly not so sure with the idea of their mission being at the bar.

"Relax, all Downworlders hang out here. We just came on vampire night."

"Right, and when is all this gonna sound normal to me?"

"I don't know," Jace turned his attention to Jaz momentarily. "Did you and Alec fix whatever's going on between you?"

"Really, Izzy?" The blonde sighed under her breath, she knew the younger of the two Lightwood siblings didn't agree with her choice to avoid the situation with Alec entirely, but she hadn't expected her to involve anyone else, let alone mention to Jace that there had even been a problem, to begin with. Then again, it wasn't entirely unusual, leave it to Izzy to push everyone's feelings to the surface instead of letting them keep them bottled up inside. What was it she had said to Alec before they left? It's only a matter of time before they explode?

 _Good. Let them explode._ Jaz thought to herself, avoiding answering Jace's question. She looked up into Jace's eyes as he waited patiently for her to respond, she gave him a lopsided smile and shrugged, hoping he'd buy into it and leave her alone. Though, knowing how well Jace knew her, that was a longshot. He only had time to raise an unconvinced eyebrow as the two Lightwoods joined them.

"All clear," Alec said calmly, drawing Jace's attention away from Jaz.

"Do you think red's my color?" Izzy asked Clary, stopping next to the redhead with a smile.

"Iz, with a body like yours, everything's your color." 

"Good point. Damn, I make this necklace look so good."

"Will you take it off? I'm certain Magnus Bane doesn't want drool on his ruby when we make the exchange." Alec spoke up behind her.

"You know, I wouldn't be so sure. Most men like it when I admire their jewels." Izzy replied with a dreamy smile.

"Can you just give it to Jace?" Alec tried again.

Izzy unhooked the necklace and raised her hand for Jace to take it from her. "You're such a buzzkill."

"Blend in. Keep your weapons ready." Jaz instructed firmly, glancing around them as they made their way into the bar. She locked eyes with Jace and nodded slightly toward where the warlock, Magnus Bane was sitting.

"Magnus," Jace called out, approaching the warlock with Jaz and Clary following closely behind him.

The man stood and rounded the table he was sitting at, stopping in front of the three Shadowhunters. "Clary Fairchild. You've grown into a beautiful young woman."

"Magnus Bane. So, you're the one who stole my memories." Clary bit back, looking him up and down.

"At your mother's request. She knew the risk." Magnus held his right hand out toward Jace. "Show me the jewelry, Shadowhunter."

Jace looked to Jaz who nodded her agreement, then he held his hand up, letting the ruby dangle in front of Magnus. When the warlock reached for it, he quickly withdrew his hand. "Ooh... Give Clary back her memories, and you get the jewelry."

Magnus held his hand up to Jace again. "I have to confirm its authenticity."

"You can't be serious?" Jaz asked, looking between the warlock and her best friend. The look in her eyes telling Jace not to hand over the ruby. She let out an irritated huff of air when he placed the necklace in the warlock's hand and shrugged at her.

" _Amor_ _verus_ _numquam_ _moritur_. 'True love cannot die.' Oh, how I've missed this jewel." Magnus spoke, turning the ruby over in his hands with a satisfied sigh.

"Now, it's your turn to pay up," Clary said, drawing Magnus' attention from the necklace.

"I wish I could retrieve your memories, but I no longer have them."

"What? Where are they?"

Magnus' eyes shifted between the three Shadowhunters. "I fed them to a memory demon for safekeeping."

"And why the hell would you do that?" Jaz asked with a frustrated sigh, now feeling horrible for the way she'd handled things with Alec back at the Institute. She knew that at some point she'd have to talk to him again, they needed to work through their differences before things between them reached an irreparable point.

"To protect Clary and the Cup. If Valentine ever captured me, he could torture Clary's memories out of me. Just like he tortured Dot." Magnus turned to the blonde woman as Jace's right arm came up between them like a protective barrier. The warlock speaking to her as if the answer to her question should have been blatantly obvious.

"Tortured? Wait, is Dot okay?" Clary panicked, looking between Magnus and the others.

Magnus' eyes drifted to the redhead. "You don't know? Dot is dead."

"What? How do you know?"

"I can't feel her magic anymore. Valentine killed her because she would not betray your mother."

"Oh, my God." Clary shook her head in disbelief.

"Come with me, Clary." The warlock reached out and gently touched Clary's shoulder, pulling her toward him, he eyed the two blondes before returning his attention to the woman in front of him. "My lair can offer you protection no Shadowhunter ever could."

"No! No, I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Don't be a fool. Your mother would want you to live."

"Then help me get my memories back from whatever demon you gave them to."

"Valentine is hunting you, too. And every moment we're outside my lair's protection is a moment Valentine gets closer to finding us." Magnus pulled his hands together and a puff of blue smoke appeared between them, he spun around and waved his hands in a small circle. Once the portal opened up before him, he turned back around to Clary and offered her his hand. "Come with me. I won't offer again."

Clary took a small step back. "No. No, I won't hide from my problems and neither should you."

"Look out!" Before Magnus could say anything else, a woman's voice called from across the room as an arrow soared through the air, piercing the chest of the man who was standing a few feet away from where the Shadowhunters and warlock were standing.

"Magnus, wait! You're my only hope." Clary rushed forward as Magnus made his way to the portal and grabbed onto the sleeve of his jacket.

"Valentine found us. I warned your mother this might happen." He turned quickly and stepped through the portal, leaving a button from his jacket behind in Clary's hand.

"The area's secure. Looks like he was the only assassin." Izzy said, coming to a stop behind Jaz with her whip in her hand.

Alec had knelt down by the body, he looked up at his sister as she approached. "He has a _Circle rune_ on the base of his neck."

"They found us. It's not safe here." Jaz nodded to Alec and moved passed Jace to head back toward the bar's entrance.

"Clary, we have to go. Clary..." Jace told the redhead, turning to follow after Izzy and Jaz. When she made no move to leave with them, he walked back over to her. He turned back toward Izzy and Jaz, meeting the blonde's eyes.

"Go, we'll be right behind you." Jaz sighed and made her way back to Jace's side, she looked down at Clary and nodded to the others.

"No way. If one of them already found us, there could be others. We'll go together." Jace shook his head, giving Jaz a defiant look.

"Jace, just trust me, all right?" Jaz pushed him ahead with Alec and turned back to Clary. She gave the other woman a gentle smile and pulled her to her feet, leading her out of the bar with the others. She still had trouble getting used to the new dynamics of their team now that Clary was involved, but she knew that if she'd had to be informed of Jace, Alec or Izzy's deaths from a complete stranger, she'd be more than shaken up about it and want someone to offer her the same kindness. Jaz tugged Clary along behind her as the five of them exited the bar and let her go once they were outside in the fresh air.

Izzy turned to Clary when she noticed her lagging behind. "Jace."

"Clary, we have to move." He called out in an attempt to keep her and the group moving.

"I'm trying to catch my breath," she shot back, her voice trembling as she spoke.

Alec turned his attention to the two blondes, the frustration he'd let out before they'd left the Institute had returned with a vengeance and he was fully prepared to let them know just what he thought of the situation. "You know what? This is great. And not only did Magnus not get the girl her memories back, he took the necklace. This is fantastic--"

"Alec, the girl... her name is Clary and I highly suggest you keep your voice down," Jace said forcefully, stepping closer to Alec.

"Why? What, are you afraid I'm gonna upset her?" Alec yelled back, gesturing toward Clary where she stood off to the side with Izzy. "We have risked our lives again and again for this girl and where has it gotten us? All right? Nowhere."

"Guys, not now!" Jaz stepped up next to Jace, eyeing the older Lightwood angrily. "We don't have time for this. We need to get out of here before more of Valentine's men come looking for us. You two can hash this out later."

"Really? Of course, you're taking his side."

"Alec, I'm not taking anyone's side. I'm just as disappointed about this as you are. But we are standing out here in the open with giant targets on our backs. We might as well be putting up a beacon inviting Valentine and his men to come find us. If he gets Clary, that's it. We're all dead."

"Jazmine, why are you defending her? Or did you forget that you almost died for her?" Alec's eyes bore intensely into Jaz's.

Fury flashed quickly across Jaz's features and she took another step toward him. Her voice was full of all the rage she'd been feeling over the last few days as she screamed right back, suddenly not caring if she drew attention to them or not. "I know that! Do you honestly think I could forget the blinding, burning pain of having demon venom coursing through my veins? Do you honestly think I could forget how terrifying it was to lay there paralyzed in Jace's arms? Do you honestly think I could forget how heartbreaking it was to know that I could have died and never be able to see you guys again?"

"Well, you sure as hell haven't been acting like it. You're reckless, but you're not stupid. We're no closer to getting the Mortal Cup. And we've lost the Institute's necklace."

"Hey, I am right here. And I don't care about your damn jewelry." Clary stepped forward slowly, fear and panic accompanying the hopelessness in her voice. "I am sorry you're gonna look bad in front of your bosses, okay? But my mother is still missing and my last chance at finding her just disappeared into thin air."

"Clary, it's gonna be fine," Jace spoke up in an attempt to calm her down.

"No, it's not! People are dying because of me. And Magnus? Magnus will never come out of hiding again while Valentine is still after him." She laughed bitterly, throwing the button from her hands. " And I will... I will never get my memories back."

"You give up way too easy." Jaz quickly reached out and caught the button before it could hit the ground. She glanced at Alec with fire in her eyes, then turned to Jace, handing him the button. She nodded and stepped back toward the others, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What is he doing?" Clary asked Alec as they watched Jace walk away from them.

"He's tracking Magnus. Be quiet and keep your distance." He replied without bothering to hide his disdain for the redhead.

Izzy spoke up again for the first time since they'd stopped outside the bar. "The button belonged to Magnus. Jace can pinpoint the location using that."

Jace stood alone for a few minutes with his eyes closed, focusing his energy on finding the warlock. He shook his head and turned back to the others. "No. The signal's not strong enough..."

"Magnus must be blocking the track." Jaz finished for him.

"Let's do this, Alec." Jace approached the older man and placed the button between their hands. 

"Do what?" Clary asked curiously as she moved her gaze from Jaz's face to the two standing in front of her.

" _Parabatai_ tracking," Izzy answered quietly, watching her brothers.

"Of course, they are."

"When _parabatais_ track, their power grows stronger." As if on cue with Jaz's words, the two men turned to look at her. When she nodded her head, they turned back and held each other's gazes as a soft light began to swirl around their hands, illuminating the space between them. "Jace and Alec are gonna track Magnus together."

"Yeah, this whole _parabatai_ thing seems oddly intimate, if you ask me."

"You don't know the half of it," Izzy replied with a sigh.

The two men continued to stare intensely into each other's eyes, their faces drawing closer the more the power between them grew. Suddenly Jace lightly shook his head and the connection between them was severed, he dropped Alec's hands and turned away. "Got him."

"Come on," Jaz said, tugging gently on Clary's arm. She avoided Alec's gaze as she moved passed him, following after Jace to the nearby warehouse.

"Magnus' lair is just behind that fence," Jace said, pointing across the warehouse.

"Magnus lives in a warehouse?" Clary questioned from where she stood behind the blondes.

"Not exactly. Warlock glamour." Jaz answered, reaching out to touch Jace's arm and drawing his attention to her. She nodded toward Izzy.

Izzy stood with her right hand raised, signaling the others to stay quiet and hold their positions. "Something's wrong. It's far too easy to get this close."

"His protective wards must be down," Jace's eyes darted around the room. 

Alec turned to address Clary. "You... don't get in the way."

"Jaz, you still with me?" Jace slightly turned his head to the side and quietly called out.

The blonde pressed her back against his, folding her arms behind them and pulling her seraph daggers from their place in his back pockets. She stretched her arms out to the side and twirled the daggers in her hands. "You know I've always got your back, Falcon."

Jace offered the woman a soft chuckle, but before he could reply, sounds of a struggle drew the group's attention across the warehouse. They watched as two men fought just inside the fence that Jace had pointed out when they entered, one of Valentine's followers turned the other man around and sliced him across the back, then pushed him from the platform.

"Oh, God! Valentine found Magnus!" Clary yelled out, following after the others who were already sprinting across the warehouse.

Jaz sent a signal to the others that she would scout ahead and meet them up top just before heading off to find Magnus. She glanced behind her at Clary and hoped the redhead would be able to keep up with them, the last thing they needed was for Valentine's men to be able to pick them off one by one. Jaz gave a short nod to Clary and quietly made her way around the back of the warehouse where one of Valentine's men appeared to be waiting for them.

She took a deep breath in and pulled her left hand back, as she exhaled, she threw her hand forward and released the dagger. The blade sailed through the air and pierced the man in the back of the head, he slumped to the ground and Jaz continued her way up toward the fence. As she passed by the man on the ground, she retrieved her dagger from the back of his skull. Sounds of another struggle pulled her attention over the edge and she looked down, catching sight of Clary and a young girl being cornered by the man that had killed the girl's father.

"Clary Fairchild," he turned to face Clary and the little girl. "Valentine will be so pleased to meet you." As he reached forward with his left hand, Izzy stepped around the corner and swung her whip forward, wrapping it around his wrist and pulling him back toward her.

Jace appeared at Jaz's side and looked over the edge then back up at her. Jaz nodded and handed him one of her daggers. She threw hers, striking the man in the back of the leg, causing him to fall to his knees. When he stood up to swing at Izzy with his sword, Jace threw the second knife, embedding it deep into the man's shoulder and knocking him to the ground.

"Thanks for that," Clary breathed out relieved, looking to the two blondes above her.

"Any time," Jace answered with a wink. He turned to Jaz, his eyes flickered over her face. "Nicely done, Summerwell."

She gave him a small smile. "Not too bad yourself, Wayland."

"Stick close. It's safest if we stay together." Izzy warned the redhead. She pulled the dagger from the fallen man's shoulder and looked up to catch Jaz's gaze. The two nodded and Izzy tossed the blade up to Jaz who caught it, then followed after Jace and Alec.

~

Jaz stood off to the side of the room with Jace surveying the extent of the damage. Many bodies belonging to Valentine's men as well as some of the warlocks had been scattered across Magnus' lair. She looked up and met Alec's gaze where he sat across from her on Magnus' sofa, the two still hadn't spoken of what had occurred between them outside of the bar; given Jaz's stubbornness, there was a chance it would take quite a while before either of them was ready to forgive each other again.

"Hold tight, everyone, we're about to move." Magnus' voice caught the other Shadowhunters' attention and they turned toward him. He brought both of his hands up and the same blue mist from before appeared in his palms, bringing his hands close together, a pulsing energy was released, enveloping the room and everything inside it. He pushed his hands down and raised them up, sending a bubble of white light around them.

The warlock breathed a sigh of relief, looking out of the window toward the Brooklyn Bridge. He spun around quickly, letting his gaze sweep over the room. "Ah, much better. Ugh, it's inevitable. After each move, I get the itch to redecorate. Normally, I love a dirty lair, but this one is just sloppy." He turned to Izzy and held up the ruby necklace. "I believe in payment for services rendered. Thank you for defending the warlocks."

"I couldn't," Izzy sighed, drawing the attention of her brother and the two blondes from their conversation.

"Oh, but you could. And you should." Magnus stepped behind Izzy and hooked the ruby around her neck. "The Lightwoods have been wearing this for years. Besides, this would look silly on your brother."

Clary stood from her spot on the back of Magnus' sofa. "Okay, so how do we summon the memory demon?"

"Are you certain? Summoning such a powerful demon could be lethal." Magnus moved from behind Izzy and stood between her and the others.

"I'll do anything to save my mother. Where is the demon?"

"Okay. Pretty boy, get your team ready."

"You know what to do," Jace replied, taking a step forward.

"I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to you. " Magnus reached up with his hand and stopped Jace before he could get any farther, then pointed directly at Alec who shrugged and shook his head. The warlock addressed Clary again. "Come with me."

Jaz watched as Magnus led Clary through the double doors across from them, she took a step closer to Jace and Alec, looking up at the older man. "What was that about?"

"I don't know," Alec shrugged again, avoiding Jaz's gaze.

"Alec?" She waited for him to acknowledge her, letting out an irritated sigh when he still wouldn't look at her. "Fine. Forget it."

Jace pulled his eyebrows together, unhappy with the attitudethe older man had been giving him and Jaz. He grabbed her by the hand and tugged her behind him to the other side of the couch, he dropped her hand and crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't worry about Alec, he'll get over it. Let's just focus on the mission."

"Right, yeah. Because that's just supposed to be so freaking easy with Alec barely even speaking to me."

"Hey, he's barely speaking to me too, remember?"

"Yeah, but you're _parabatai_ , Jace. He's not going to stay angry with you forever."

"And you're his sister, he'll come around."

Jaz shook her head, redirecting her attention through the doors just as Magnus waved the two of them over to his side. "Shadowhunters... prepare Clary as best you can."

The blondes took Magnus' place at Clary's side, Jace speaking up first. "The memory demon is a Greater Demon."

"The rune will be far more powerful than anything you've faced so far." Jaz continued to explain, searching Clary's face for any sign of doubt or withdraw.

"Do it." She replied confidently, looking between the two blondes.

"This might sting." Jace set his stele to the exposed skin of Clary's right shoulder and looked to Jaz briefly out of the corner of his eye. She took hold of Clary's left arm to steady her against what would come next and nodded to the man in front of her; the grip she had on Clary tightened as Jace began drawing the rune, Clary's voice ringing out in an agonizing scream around them.

~

Awhile later, Magnus led the Shadowhunters through the doors as Clary finished drawing the pentagram on the floor. "Jocelyn was right, your artistry is beyond compare."

"I don't know about that," Clary answered, brushing her hands off and standing up.

"Oh, the only other person I've known who could draw as well was Michaelangelo, who was excellent in bed, I might add." Magnus looked to Alec as he finished speaking, then walked around to one of the points on the pentagram and addressed the five people in front of him. "Okay. We're ready. Everyone, take your rightful place on the pentagram."

Alec and Izzy got into position and looked over at Jaz and Jace, since there were only five points on the pentagram, one of them would have to wait off to the side. The siblings watched as the two blondes shared quiet conversation with each other, both staring intensely into the other's eyes.

"Are you sure?" Jace asked, looking over Jaz's shoulder at Alec. The older man quickly averted his gaze.

"I'm sure. Now go on, I've got your back." Jaz moved with Jace as he got into place at the tip of the pentagram in front of him, pulled her daggers from his back pockets again and lifted her gaze to Alec. She nodded to the older man and dropped into her fighting stance directly behind the blonde, ready for anyone or anything that dared to interrupt them.

"Um..." Clary began, looking to Jace for help.

"Here," he moved her into place and took his own at the tip in front of him.

"Thanks."

"We must initiate a bond. Once this bond is sealed, it cannot be broken until the demon retreats. No matter what happens, we must not let go of each other's hands." Magnus held his hand out to Alec who took it slowly, a low boom of energy sounded as their hands touched.

The dark-haired man reached for Jace, who then reached for Clary. Each time their hands connected, the same booming pulse of energy rang out around them. 

Izzy scoffed before joining her hands with Clary and Magnus. "You people are pathetic."

"I will lead the ceremony, and you all must do exactly as I say. The demon's name is Valak. And at some point, he will ask for payment in exchange for Clary's memories." Magnus continued with his explanation once all of their hands had been joined together.

"What do you mean?" Jaz shifted her stance, glancing back over her shoulder at the warlock.

"What kind of payment?" Jace finished.

"We will see. Let us begin." Magnus closed his eyes and began summoning the demon, as he spoke, the ruby around Izzy's neck began to pulse signaling that the demon was near.

Izzy looked down at her chest. "The necklace. It's pulsing."

A rush of wind and black smoke swirled down from above them and settled in the middle of the circle.

"Valak is among us. Do not break the bond." Magnus reminded them.

"Hold on!" Jace yelled out to Clary.

"I'm trying." Clary's voice was strained as she struggled to keep her hold on Jace's hand.

"It is time. The demon demands payment." Magnus shouted above the noise.

"What does it want?" Alec asked, staring into the swirling black cloud in front of him.

"We must each relinquish a beloved memory of the one we love the most."

Izzy gasped as her memory was drawn out first, Alec's face appearing before them in the swirl. Clary's memory was next, she yelped as it was pulled from her and Jocelyn appeared in front of them. Alec's memory was drawn soon after, Jace's face appeared before him.

"No, it's not true! The demon deceived me!"

"Do not break the bond!"

"Alec, it's okay!" Izzy called out to her brother.

Alec dropped Jace and Magnus' hands. "No!"

"Alec!" Jace reached for his _parabatai_ but the older man stepped away from him.

"No!" A wave of energy pushed through the open circle, breaking everyone else's hold. They were thrown back as Valak roared and the swirling smoke grew into a tornado before them.

Magnus used his magic to do everything he could to hold Valak in place. "I cannot contain the demon much longer!"

Alec rose from where he was dropped and crossed in front of the tornado making his way toward the door; Jace got up and threw him out of the way, Valak taking hold of the blond instead. "No!"

"Jace!" Izzy ran over and grabbed onto his left arm in an attempt to pull him back.

Jaz stood and quickly ran forward, dropping her daggers she wrapped her arms around Izzy's waist. She looked over to Alec. "Grab him! Grab him!"

"Hold on!" Alec instructed, grabbing onto Jace's right arm.

"The demon is growing stronger!" Magnus struggled to keep his hold on Valak.

"He's slipping!"

Izzy and Jaz glanced behind them. "Clary! Help us!"

The redhead pushed herself off of the wall she was leaning on and drew her seraph blade. As she moved forward, Magnus called out to her. "Clary, if you kill the demon, your memories will be lost forever!"

"Help us!" Jaz screamed again, her grip on Izzy's waist began to falter.

Making up her mind, Clary rushed forward and spun into the middle of the tornado. She thrust her arm forward, sending her blade through Valak's body. The demon's hold on Jace was released, as it erupted into burning embers and Jaz was thrown back across the room.

Clary moved off to the side with the others where they hovered over Jace's unconscious form. "Jace... Oh, my God, Jace."

"Jace, get up." Alec's eyes moved across Jace's motionless form.

"Is he gonna be all right?" Clary asked as Magnus approached them.

"I don't know. Does he normally just lay like that without moving?" Magnus answered, looking down at the blonde.

Alec gently set his hands on Jace's back. "Get up. Jace."

Jace instantly pushed himself up on his elbows, coughing and gasping for air. He sat back on his knees and spoke weakly. "I'm all right. I'm all right. I'm all right. I'm just getting my second wind."

Magnus looked up as Alec moved toward the doors and joined him. "There's nothing to be ashamed of, Alec."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Alec's gaze remained locked on Jace, watching as Izzy and Clary fussed over him.

"You will," the warlock answered, then left the room.

Clary gently placed her hand on Jace's shoulder. "Thank God, you're okay. For a second there, I thought we lost you."

"Remind me again, what's the, uh... What's the count on how many times I saved your life?" Jace asked breathlessly.

"I... I think we're even." Clary answered, a soft smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"I don't think so." Jace chuckled.

Izzy left the two of them sitting on the floor and walked over to Alec, he refused to meet her gaze and walked away. Jace's voice pulled Izzy's attention back into the room.

"Izzy, where's Jaz?"

"What do you mean 'where's Jaz'? She was right there with us when we pulled you out." Izzy met Jace's worried gaze and she turned in the direction Alec had left. "Alec! We can't find Jaz."

The older Lightwood ran back to his sister and the two reentered the room, looking around it frantically. Alec spotted Jaz's body before the others and quickly ran to her, dropping to his knees at her side. "Jace, Izzy, over here!"

"Jaz!" The other three made their way over, Izzy fell beside Alec, her eyes swept over Jaz. Clary stood behind the siblings unsure of what to do or say as she watched her friends panic over the blonde woman.

"Help me roll her over!" The two men carefully rolled Jaz onto her back. Jace's eyes filled with tears as he looked down at his best friend, the one person besides Alec who he loved more than anyone else in the world. He held her lifeless body in his arms for the second time over the last few days and he felt his chest tighten once more. "What the hell happened?"

Izzy lifted Jaz's arms, searching them for any sign of injury. "I don't know. She must've been thrown when the demon let you go."

"Come on, Jaz. Don't do this now. Not after everything we've been through." Alec couldn't keep his voice from breaking. He thought back to the fight they'd gotten into before tracking Magnus to the warehouse, how pained her face looked as she stared up at him while he yelled at her. They'd never screamed at each other the way they had outside the bar, and now he was regretting all of it.

"She's not breathing. Isn't there something you can do?" Clary finally asked, shaking her head in disbelief. She snapped her jaw shut when Jace's eyes met hers, full of pain. Clary realized that within the last week, Jaz had done more for her than was asked and she hadn't once thanked her. Alec was right, they'd all risked their lives over and over again and she hadn't shown an ounce of appreciation.

Izzy, Jace, and Alec huddled together, hugging Jaz between them. Quiet sobs ripped through their bodies, the three of them held tightly onto each other, mourning the loss of their sister and friend. Jace may have been their best fighter and Jaz a very close second, but she was the best of all of them in the way she held their group together. Life without her would always feel incomplete.

The three Shadowhunters jumped back, feeling movement in their arms. Izzy sniffed, looking down at her friend. "Come on, Jaz. We need you."

"Wake up. Forget our stupid fight, just wake up." Alec whispered softly, sitting back to give the two blondes some space.

"Don't you dare leave me, Hawk..." Jace's blue-brown eyes swept over Jaz's face. He breathed out a sigh of relief as the woman in his arms gasped for breath, finally pulling air into her lungs.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Falcon." Jaz's voice was rough, but she was alive. 

Alec and Izzy took turns hugging the blonde woman, warm tears falling freely down both of their faces. They'd all come way too close to saying goodbye to her over the past week and none of them wanted to admit just how terrible the thought of almost losing her truly felt. They were a family.

"I said I had your back, Wayland," Jaz told him, sitting up once her breathing had returned to normal. When he didn't respond, Jaz turned to look at him.

Jace's eyes held her warm brown ones. He grabbed her face in his hands and leaned forward, filling the space between them. He took a quick breath in and closed his mouth over hers. The kiss was clumsy and frantic, everything he'd wanted to tell her days before suddenly being translated through the touch of their lips. He couldn't pinpoint what exactly had compelled him to kiss her, but at the same time, he couldn't stop himself. The salt of his own tears mingled with the sweet mint on Jaz's lips and Jace smiled, finally pulling back.

"Damn it, Summerwell." Jace chuckled, resting his forehead against hers.

"You'll have to do better than a Greater Demon if you want to get rid of me, Jace." Jaz returned, giving the blonde a soft smile. She glanced up at the Lightwood siblings and pulled them back in for a group hug. They were Shadowhunters, risking their lives was in their blood, it would take a lot more than a few demons to bring them down.


	5. Moo Shu To Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the shock and emotional turmoil suffered during the summoning at Magnus's loft, Jaz is sidelined when a diplomatic mission is underway. Forced to stay home and assist Alec in watching over Clary Fairchild, Jaz does her best to stay neutral but quickly learns that everything with Clary isn't quite what it seems. Tensions further arise between Jace, Jaz, and Alec when Clary sneaks out and is captured by a pack of werewolves. Nothing prepared Jazmine Summerwell for the oncoming storm that would sweep away the comfort of knowing Jace would never turn his back on her.

All of the excitement at Magnus’s loft had left everyone more than a bit on edge. Alec and Izzy insisted that Jaz have a full workup done, and personally escorted her to the infirmary upon their return to the Institute. Neither of the siblings commented on how strange it was that Jace hadn’t accompanied them, let alone demanded that he be the one to take her himself. Instead, the blonde had opted to go his own way, stating that he would check on her a little while later. 

Now, Alec sat nestled in the soft chair by the window of Jaz’s room, quietly watching over her while she attempted to sleep. They hadn’t spoken about the fight they’d gotten into outside of Hardtail, but after nearly losing her at Magnus’s, Alec could barely remember why they’d been fighting in the first place. He knew the things he’d said had been less than kind and felt responsible for what happened to her back at the loft, he wouldn’t let her stay alone until he was sure she’d be okay. He leaned forward with his elbows against his knees and his chin resting on top of his hands, eyeing her closely while she slept; the need to make sure she was still breathing kept him rooted in place. 

Jaz tossed and turned restlessly throughout the night before breathing out an irritated sigh and sitting up, laying her head back against the headboard. She glanced over at the older man and smiled, patting the spot next to her on the bed. “Hey, think it’s time for one of our famous Lightwood-Summerwell talks?” 

Alec chuckled, running one of his hands through his messy hair. He stood up and moved toward Jaz’s bed, taking a seat beside her, leaning his head back and crossing his ankles. He knew they needed to talk about what happened outside of Hardtail but he couldn't figure out where to start. “Are you feeling okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks. Just a little restless, I guess. Have you been sitting here all night?” Jaz gently laid her head on Alec’s left shoulder the way she always did whenever the two of them sat together like that. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. 

“Izzy and I took shifts, we wanted to make sure you were okay.” Alec lied, taking a short breath. “Listen, Jaz, about what I said at the bar... Suddenly this girl shows up out of nowhere and we’re all bending over backwards and jumping through hoops, and for what? You’ve been hurt twice which is exactly my point.” 

“What happened at Pandemonium was my fault, I made the choice to jump down in front of Jace. I would do it all again if I had to, for you, Jace, and Izzy. Besides, if I was actually going to die, you three would have known.” 

“Jaz, I’m being serious. You’re not stupid, but I stand by my statement that you’ve become way more reckless since Clary showed up, so has Jace. What’s going on with you two?” 

“I don’t know, Alec. There’s just something about her, it’s like I'm being pulled toward her, even though I try my hardest not to be. But I can’t say the same for Jace, you should talk to him.” 

Alec chuckled, ignoring her last comment. “When you were laying there unconscious and we thought... I regretted everything that happened with us before. I never should have said that you didn’t care about whether you lived or died. I know you, I know that while you consider it an honor to give your life to protect others, it stills scares you to even think about saying goodbye to us. When I saw you laying there, I was reminded of just how broken me and Jace and Izzy would be without you and I am so sorry.” 

“It felt like I was being pulled in two different directions. Like something was dragging me away and I couldn’t fight it. And the whole time I could hear you guys, calling for me, crying over me and I wanted so bad to reach out and tell you that I was okay but I couldn’t. Then when it felt like it was all going to stop, I woke up. We hunt shadows for a living, I fearlessly jump in front of demons and throw myself at vampires and Valentine’s minions. And yet, I was so terrified that I wouldn’t ever see you again, that the last thing we ever did was yell at each other, and I... I never want to feel that terrified again.” Jaz’s voice broke as she recalled what it felt like to be so close to dying. 

“Just don’t do anything unnecessary, okay? We’re more than just a team, we’re family. We’ve all had each other’s backs since we were kids and we always will, you have to remember that. Do you need anything?” He asked, resting his head on top of hers with a sigh. Things between them were far from perfect, but their talk had been a step in the right direction. 

The blonde took a breath and shook her head, sitting upright. “No, I think I just need to go train. Get rid of some of this pent-up energy.” 

Alec stood from his spot on the bed and headed for the door. “That’s probably a good idea. I’ll see you later?” 

“Of course, you will. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry, too. See you, Lightwood.” Jaz said, giving the man a short nod of her head. 

“See you, Summerwell.” Alec returned her gesture with a soft smile and slipped out of the room, pulling the door closed behind him. 

As soon as the door clicked shut, Jaz tossed the covers back and got out of bed. She slowly approached the mirror on the other side of the room and pulled her nightshirt over her head, she studied the runes placed across her torso. She could remember the moment she had received every one of them, she knew the ones that she’d drawn on by herself and the ones that the others had drawn on for her. She sighed and pulled a sports bra from her dresser along with a pair of black sweatpants and put them on, then reached for her stele where it sat on top of her dresser. 

She chuckled, remembering the motto she and Jace would speak to each other whenever they left on missions. “Never leave home without it...” She whispered to herself and tucked it into the side pocket of her sweats. Jaz ran a hand through her hair and headed for the Training Room, whenever things seemed to be confusing or overwhelming, training always helped clear her mind. 

Jaz slowly climbed the stairs into the training room and up the second set of stairs to the armory, she made her way over to the wall and opened the weapons rack. Her eyes skimmed over the rows of seraph blades, she reached out with her left hand and ran her fingers across the top of one of the blades. Everything was slowly becoming clearer just being in the presence of the weapons. She was so lost in her own swirling thoughts that she didn't hear Jace enter the room behind her. 

“You know staring at them doesn’t help you train, right?” Jace’s voice held its usual amusement. He walked up the stairs and stood next to the blonde woman then pulled two blades from the rack and handed one to her. “I know that look. Come on, you can tell me about it while we practice.” 

“Thanks. Hey, can we talk?” Jaz took the offered seraph blade from Jace’s hand and moved down to the middle of the Training Room. 

“Sure, about what?” 

“About what happened at the loft...” 

“The loft? What about it?” Jace furrowed his eyebrows and took a step toward Jaz with his left foot. 

Jaz instinctively stepped back on her right foot, a small smirk crossing her lips for a moment before returning to her previous expression. “You know, after the part where I didn’t die...” 

“Yeah, so what?” Jace took another step forward and swung his seraph blade. 

“So, you’re saying it meant absolutely nothing? It was just a kiss?” Jaz brought her own blade up, blocking Jace’s movements. 

With a grin, Jace reached out and wrapped his free hand around Jaz’s right arm, he quickly spun her around and pulled her back against his chest. He spoke softly in her ear. “I’m saying that our emotions were running high. Me, Alec, Izzy... we all thought you were dead. I’m saying that it meant whatever you needed it to.” 

Jaz furrowed her eyebrows, breathing heavily. Her mind was clear now, everything she had been worrying about began to drift away, leaving her relaxed and finally able to focus her energy on the things that mattered. 

“Are we good here?” Jace asked, keeping a firm grip on her arm. 

“Yeah, we’re good.” Jaz took a deep breath, pulled her arm out of Jace’s grasp and the two continued to spar in silence. 

Their actions were matching in speed and accuracy, both had focused expressions on their faces. They reacted to each other’s movements with great ease. Jace swung his right arm to the left, he swiped out at Jaz where she stood in front of him and she ducked out of the way. She mirrored his previous action and their blades clashed against each other with a loud clang. They went on, completely oblivious to anything happening around them outside of the Training Room. The two blondes sliced through the air, effortlessly spinning around each other and with a final jump, landed on one knee with a thrust of their blades. 

Jace was the first to notice the person standing a few feet away watching them, he smiled as he walked over to the woman and embraced her. “Maryse. Hey, it’s great to see you. How is everyone in Idris?” 

“Where’s, uh... where’s Max?” Jaz asked as she walked up to Jace’s side. She handed him a towel and leaned forward for her own hug from the woman in front of them. 

“No Max. Just Mom with her hair on fire.” Izzy cut in, leading Clary over to the trio. 

Clary stopped in front of the blondes, eyeing them both questioningly. “I love how Shadowhunters share. A hidden brother, and a secret country, and a private portal.” 

“Private portal?” Jaz questioned, looking between Izzy, Maryse, and Jace. 

“Uh, yeah, you kind of missed some things. I’ll fill you in later.” Jace answered, casting a sidelong glance at the redhead. 

“Mother, welcome back. We didn’t expect you.” Alec greeted, entering the room and joining the others. Maryse stepped forward to give Alec a quick hug before returning to her previous position. “You should be prepared, whether you expect me or not.” 

“I am. We are.” Alec answered as Jace, Izzy, Jaz and Clary fell into a line beside him. 

“We’ll talk about the Institute later. Right now, we have a bigger problem.” Maryse circled around the five young adults and continued. “The Seelies have stopped communicating with the Clave and won’t explain why. My guess is they’re still upset we asked them to send scouts to look for Valentine, but no one in their realm will talk.” 

“I have Seelie friends,” Izzy spoke up, gaining the attention of her mother. 

“Yes, I know all about your friends. Isabelle, we stay separate from the Downworld for good reasons. The wrong move, the wrong word... Do you think there’s such a thing as harmless rebellion? Who knows what offends these creatures? Maybe you told him... them... something they shouldn't know. Maybe you trod on one of their ridiculous customs without knowing it.” 

“Wait, wait. I don’t understand. You’re laying all of this on Izzy for having a friend in the Downworld?” Jace interrupted, confused. 

Jaz straightened up, her eyes flickered over to Izzy before returning to the woman in front of her. “I have friends in the Downworld, too. This isn’t only Izzy’s fault.” 

“And we will discuss that later, as well. When someone upsets the natural order, everything falls apart.” Maryse replied, stepping to the side and stopping in front of Jace. 

“Natural order? What are you saying?” Clary asked, addressing Maryse for the first time. 

“I can help. I know how to talk to Seelies.” Izzy interjected firmly. 

“She’s right,” Alec spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “She can visit with Meliorn and see what he knows. I could go with her if you want.” 

Maryse placed a hand on Jace's shoulder. “I’d rather Jace goes along this time. Alec, you and Jazmine stay with the Fairchild girl. I want her under control. She’s caused enough trouble already.” 

“Maybe that’s because I wasn’t even a Shadowhunter until a few days ago,” Clary told the woman in front of her. 

“And what an exciting few days it has been. The Clave counts on us Lightwoods to maintain order here.” 

“You don’t need to tell me that. If the mission is important to the Clave, I would prefer to be the one who goes with Isabelle.” Alec countered. 

“Or, I could. I’m sure the two of us together will be able to find some answers.” Jaz said, glancing at Izzy for a moment. 

Maryse chuckled dryly, her eyes moved between the five young Shadowhunters. “You are all so eager to do what you would prefer. It’s time to face the truth. Life is not about what you want to do, it’s about what must be done. I have given you your assignments now carry them out.” She pointed to Jace and Izzy. “You and you, with me, now.” 

Jace and Izzy looked back at the others before following Maryse out of the room, leaving Alec and Jaz alone with Clary. The burning question on all four of their minds wouldn't be answered by any of them standing around and keeping her waiting. 

“Well, that was a window into the weird. What did you do to piss off your mom?” Clary asked, stepping closer to Alec and Jaz as the three of them watched Izzy and Jace leave. 

“I’d guess, for a start... all the unsanctioned missions on your behalf didn’t go over that big with the Clave,” Alec answered bitterly. 

“And you?” Clary turned to Jaz, raising her eyebrows. 

Jaz shrugged her shoulders, looking up at Alec with an unsure expression in her dark brown eyes. “I have no idea.” 

~

“You’re the acting head of this Institute. If there’s a diplomatic mission, you should go. Let’s switch assignments.” Jace said as he, Jaz and Alec stepped out of the elevator and walked through the Ops Center. 

“Nope. This time I’m actually gonna obey orders and babysit your girlfriend.” Alec answered back, throwing a sidelong glance in Jaz’s direction. 

“Clary? She’s more like my responsibility.” Jace answered as they continued walking. He placed a hand on Alec’s shoulder, drawing the older man’s attention to him. “Hey, you’ll keep an eye on her right? What is wrong with you?” 

Alec inhaled, slightly stumbling over his words. “I, uh... You have every right to be mad at me.” 

Jace quirked an eyebrow and gave Alec a playful smirk. “What did you do? Throw my leather jacket in the washing machine again?” 

“This isn’t a joke. At Magnus’s. The demon... image of you.” 

“That? You love me... so? I love you, too, Alec. Come on, man. We’re  _parabatai, w_ e’re brothers. We’ve spent almost our whole lives together. How could we not love each other? This is what’s bothering you? Seriously?” 

“Yeah. You’re right. That’s true. I just thought you’d think that--” 

“What? Whatever, okay. If you want to follow Mom’s orders tonight, that’s great. But... please, just do me one favor... Swear to me you won’t take your eyes off of Clary? I... I can’t believe I even asked you that. You won’t let me down.” Jace breathed out and pulled Alec into a hug. When the two let go, he turned to Jaz who was still standing next to them, watching their interaction. “You okay?” 

“Oh, yeah, I’m good. There’s a first time for everything, right?” Jaz answered with a smile. She didn’t see her assignment as a big punishment, though that’s clearly what Maryse had intended. To her, it felt more like a chance to get closer to the Fairchild girl and figure out what was really going on with her. 

“Yeah. Well, don’t get used to it, you’ll be back out in the field soon enough. I’ll check in with you guys later. Thanks for doing this, I know I can count on you two.” Jace’s gaze shifted between Jaz and Alec, he nodded before finally walking away. 

“We weren’t exactly given a choice.” Alec said under his breath. He stood with his arms folded across his chest and turned to the woman next to him. “Let’s go.” 

Jaz followed Alec from the Ops Center, a question burned in the back of her mind and she wanted to know his opinion. She inhaled softly. “Do you honestly think your mother benched me as a way of punishing Jace and me?” 

“You two are the best but you’ve been reckless, and I have allowed you to be,” Alec answered truthfully, leading Jaz to the training room. 

“That doesn’t answer my question, Alec.” She paused, glancing over at her older brother. “By the Angel. Alexander Lightwood, you’re actually happy that we’ve been split up, aren’t you?” Realization crossed Jaz’s features as she studied the poorly hidden smirk on Alec’s face. The two of them entered the room quietly, noticing Clary standing in the center with a bo staff in her hands, twirling it in the air. She pulled her eyes away from the redhead and looked back at the dark-haired man next to her. “Be nice,” she cautioned firmly. 

Clary looked up as Jaz and Alec entered the room, she watched Alec grab a bo from the rack and hand it to Jaz then grab one for himself. “Looks like we’re stuck with each other. For what it’s worth, I think your mom was too tough on you out there.” 

“Mothers are like that,” Alec replied, stopping in front of Clary. 

“Mine’s not. Go ahead, knock me on my ass, you’ll feel better.” Clary slightly shifted her weight and tightened her grip on the bo staff. 

“Don’t make him say you’re right about something. Plant your feet wide,” Jaz motioned to Clary’s legs and took the stance she wanted the girl to follow. 

“Why did you let your mom say all of those awful things about Izzy?” Clary asked, she mimicked the blonde’s actions and blocked the incoming swing from Alec. 

“Don’t step into the strike. Step through it.” Alec instructed her gently. “Izzy was out of bounds. The law is hard but it’s the law. Even I forget that sometimes. Jaz?” 

Jaz nodded and switched places with Clary. “Alec’s right. The rules can be difficult to follow, but they’re here for our protection.” She dropped into her stance and kept her eyes trained on Alec’s face, blocking the swing he took at her. Then she threw her weight forward, stepping in and through her own swing at Alec’s right side. 

“See the way she followed through? That’s how you want to do it.” 

“So, you’re just gonna let her send Jace out instead of you? She practically benched both of you without an explanation.” Clary said, taking Jaz’s place once again. She swung her bo up, blocking Alec a bit better this time. 

“If I screw up, I expect to be punished. I’m supposed to be a leader.” Alec answered, circling the redhead. His eyes flickered over to Jaz’s face and he discreetly nodded, signaling for her to step up behind Clary. 

“Look, we are all at fault, Jace and I especially. We know the rules and we didn’t follow them, Izzy included. As the leader of our team, when Alec gives us an order, we’re supposed to follow it without question. So, when we get out of hand, it reflects poorly on him.” Jaz stepped up, keeping her eyes on Alec’s face, waiting for him to tell her what to do next. 

“You know what a leader does, Alec? Makes decisions. You need to find Valentine and stop him. I need to find Valentine and help save my mother.” 

Clary continued striking out against the two older Shadowhunters, bo against bo until Alec had hers pinned under his. She tried to pull it free but instead kicked his staff out of his grasp, causing him to drop to his knees. Alec spun out of the way and let Jaz take his place as Clary wildly swung wide in front of the blonde. 

Ducking out of the way, Jaz brought her bo up against Clary’s and pushed her back, the redhead stumbled but kept her footing. Jaz glanced at Alec’s bo on the ground behind her, ducked away again as Clary swung a second time. Alec grabbed the free end of Clary’s bo and flipped her over his shoulder, pushing himself up to stand as Jaz spun back toward them with hers and Alec’s discarded bo staff in her hands. She crossed them both against Clary’s chest, pinning her to the ground. 

“You need to work on your defense,” Jaz commented, moving back so Alec could help Clary off of the floor. 

“What do you think? Do you think we haven’t been trying to find your mother?” Alec asked, taking his bo staff from Jaz and setting up to continue training with Clary. 

“Of course, you have. But I know you can color outside the lines. You’re just not letting yourself think that way.” Clary replied. 

“Oh, yeah? What’s the big thought I’m not thinking?” 

“We can still find Valentine. I might know a way. My mother hid a lot from me, but I did see one thing... there’s a box. She didn’t think I knew about it, but she opened it once a year and cried.” 

“‘Cause?” 

“It belonged to my father. Had his initials, JC, on top.” 

“But your father’s Valentine. Why JC?” Jaz asked, now thoroughly intrigued by the situation. She was beginning to get that look in her eyes, the one that Jace and both of the Lightwood siblings knew all too well. “Unless JC is actually for someone else...” Her voice trailed off as she looked at Clary expectantly. 

“Because for 18 years, she told me his name was Jonathan Clark. That was a lie, but...” She paused, taking in a slow breath. “Whatever was in that box meant a lot to her. Maybe there’s something inside that could help us track him.” 

“Where’s the box?” 

“I think it’s still back at the loft. Let’s go get it.” 

“Absolutely not. Not without permission,” Alec said, reaching into his back pocket to pull out his phone as it began to ring. “Just...” His phone continued to chime, he held his finger up signaling for the girls to give him a moment and walked away. 

Jaz busied herself with running through a series of steps while she waited for Alec to return to them. She knew there was no point in trying to do things her way after all of the trouble it had already caused, she could handle being benched for one mission but she desperately wanted a bit more excitement than simply being confined to the Institute. What she couldn’t handle was the looming feeling that someone was watching her. She spun around with her staff raised defensively in front of her, only to be met with Clary’s green eyes piercing into her own. 

“What are you doing? I could’ve hurt you.” Jaz lowered the bo staff and waited impatiently for the other girl to answer her. “Are you crazy? You never stand that close to someone with a weapon.” 

“Right, yeah, sorry. I was just gonna ask if you could get me a bottle of water? I still don’t know where everything is in this place.” Clary asked. She cast an embarrassed gaze at the floor, then back up at the blonde woman in front of her. Jaz sighed, recognizing the same uncertainty in Clary that she’d had when she and Jace first arrived. 

“All right. Just let me put these away first.” She said with a soft smile. She held her hand out for the staff in Clary’s hands, then took it and her own back to the stand against the wall. “Hey, if you want, we can-” The end of Jaz’s sentence died on the tip of her tongue as she turned around. The redhead was no longer standing in the middle of the training floor. 

“Um... You know, now’s not really a good time for me. Another time? Gotta go.” Alec finished. His gaze darted around the room then landed on Jaz’s face, a disappointed expression settled in his hazel eyes. “Jaz, where is she?” 

“A-Alec, I... I turned my back for one second to put the staffs away, I swear. She was right here. You don’t think she-” 

“Yeah. I do. Come on.” 

The two Shadowhunters took off running down the training room steps, they crossed the Ops Center, up the flight of stairs on the opposite end and raced down the hall of the residence wing. Alec pulled the door of Clary’s room open and stepped inside with Jaz close behind him. The blonde cursed the vacant room under breath and spun on her heels. She headed back down the hall toward her own room, not bothering to say another word to Alec. She knew that anything out of her mouth now had better be an exact location of where the missing girl had gone or keep her thoughts to herself unless she wanted to take the brunt of Alec’s building anger. 

Jaz pulled her sweats off and put on a pair of black cargo pants on in their place. She was unfazed by the sight of Alec standing in the doorway to her room, having grown up together, it wasn’t the first time he’d seen her strip and change clothes. She grabbed her leather jacket and quickly slipped it on, then turned to face the man behind her. 

“We say nothing about this to Mom or the others until we absolutely have to. Jace is counting on us.” Alec said firmly. He led Jaz down the hall toward his room, stopping to grab his leather jacket before making his way back down to the lobby. 

“Agreed. Let’s go.” Jaz answered, and the two of them left the Institute without another word to anyone else. 

~

Alec and Jaz found Clary with her bag over her shoulder, standing in front of the Brooklyn Academy of Art. A sea of people moved past her without any knowledge that the redhead was among them. Time seemed to be moving slowly as she continued to watch them, then her phone went off and she scrambled to answer it before the confusing of hearing a phone but never seeing anyone answer could stir up a panic in the people around her. 

“Why’d you run out? And what’s the point of an _Invisibility rune_ if you don’t silence your phone?” Alec asked, stopping behind the girl. 

“That was childish, sneaking out like that...” Jaz confirmed. She was thrilled that they’d located Clary but annoyed that she’d let her slip out of the Institute so easily in the first place. 

Clary ignored their comments and hastily answered her phone. “Simon. Hey. I know I should have called you right back. I’m really sorry. Are you okay?” 

Jaz let out a sound somewhere between irritation and intrigue as she and Alec moved around to face the stubborn redhead. “I’m already benched as it is, we might as well follow up on Clary’s leads while we’re here.” 

“Are you crazy? No. We need to get back to the Institute.” Alec stated firmly. 

“We could be one step closer to finding the Mortal Cup or Valentine.” 

“Need I remind you of the part where my two best fighters were split up because of the countless Clave rules that we keep breaking?” 

“Do you really think she’s going to let us take her back?” 

“Jazmine.” 

“Come on, Lightwood. It’s not going to kill us to at least take a look.” 

“Hang up. That’s it, we have to go. Right now.” Alec demanded, turning away from Jaz to face Clary. 

Clary looked up at him defiantly. “No. I’m on my way to the loft. There’s something there that I think could help me find my mother.” 

Jaz glanced around them and took a step closer to Clary and Alec. “Hey, I hate to be  _that_  person but we really shouldn’t be out in the open.” 

“I’m fine. I’m with Jaz and Alec.” Clary continued. “No, Simon, you’ve been through enough already.” She sighed and put her phone back into her bag. 

“Mundanes. Look at them. Running around like ants.” Alec said, he slipped past Clary and Jaz followed close behind him. “Let’s go.” 

“Why do you always look so miserable?” Clary asked Alec, stopping him and Jaz before they could get very far. 

“I don’t.” 

“You do. It must be hard being in love with Jace and he’s straight and everything. Plus, he clearly has a thing for Jaz.” 

“Excuse me? What?” 

Clary chuckled. “What’s the big deal? I was there when that memory came out. Busted, no?” 

“What the hell is your problem, Clary?” Jaz stepped forward. The shocked look on her face settled into one of disappointment in the girl before her. 

“We were there when he kissed her, remember?” Clary’s eyes flickered between them.

“We’re parabatai,” Alec continued. 

“Alec, just say it, you’ll feel better. You’re in love with Jace.” Clary said. 

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. Back off.” Jaz moved to take another step forward, but Alec’s hand pulled her back.” 

“Forget it. You know what? You’re in love with Jace.” Alec answered, growing more and more irritated with the Fairchild girl. 

“Oh, okay? The middle school comeback? Nice. Alec, we have a real problem to solve, okay? Come with me.” Clary turned and headed down the sidewalk. 

“This better be quick,” Alec called after her. He turned to look at Jaz. “Still feeling pulled toward her?” 

“Shut up. Let’s just get this over with.” Jaz clenched her jaw, staring at the back of Clary’s head. She pulled Alec along by his sleeve and went after her. 

The two of them quietly followed Clary down the streets of Brooklyn to an abandoned alley. Jaz couldn’t get her mind off of the little jabs the redhead had made at Alec outside of the Brooklyn Academy, especially when she’d pulled her into it as well. Things between her and Alec were slowly getting better, no thanks to Clary and her meddling. 

“I’m starting to regret vouching for her,” Jaz said bitterly. 

“I told-” Alec started, but was cut off by the stern look Jaz was giving him. 

“Alec, don’t start.” The blonde warned, following Clary around the corner and into the alley where Simon was anxiously waiting for them. 

“Are you sure you’re feeling up to this?” Clary asked, eyeing Simon carefully. 

“Yeah, it’s just a cold. Not the end of the world.” He answered. 

“The world’s been ending for a thousand years,” Alec stated as he and Jaz came to a stop in front of the other two. “Ah, you get used to it. Now, we need to move.” 

“Yeah, my mom’s loft is just across the alley,” Clary said, gesturing forward. 

“All right, well, we need to be careful. There are eyes all over this place and everybody in the Shadow World's looking for you.” Jaz told her. The expression on her face was one of obvious irritation as she looked at the girl in front of her, keeping the wide range of swirling emotions she was feeling under control. 

Simon glanced around the alley and turned back to face the two Shadowhunters. “I mean, I guarantee you, no one’s gonna find this shortcut. I used to take it back in middle school to see Clary. You might know the Shadow World, but trust me... I know Brooklyn. Come on.” Simon sent Jaz a small cocky smile, then ran at the opposite wall and vaulted himself over it, leaving her, Alec and Clary standing in the alley. 

The two Shadowhunters followed Clary over the wall after Simon, both seeming a little annoyed with the redhead and her mundane counterpart but it was too late to turn back now. They all followed Simon to the back entrance and waited while he climbed the fire escape. 

“Have you been doing parkour or something?” Clary asked, following Simon up the ladder. 

“You’ve gotten a lot better at this,” Simon commented, leading the others up the stairs. 

“I was just gonna say the same thing about you.” 

Jaz rolled her eyes, growing more irritated with every second that passed by. “Climbing a fire escape excites mundanes.” 

“I’ll never understand these people.” Alec replied as they made it to the top of the landing. Many different runes littered the walls of the building, matching the ones sported by the Shadowhunters and now Clary. 

Clary looked over the railing. “Whoa! I don’t remember it like this.” 

“These are runes and wards of protection cast by a warlock,” Alec informed her as they made their way down the stairs towards the door. 

“Dot.” 

“Some of these have been here for years,” Jaz noted, studying one of the more faded looking runes on the far wall. 

“The only difference is now I can actually see them.” 

“Yo, Clary,” Simon called out, he stood next to Jaz, his eyes sweeping over the runes on the wall, though he had no idea what they were. “What are all these tags?” 

Alec turned toward the mundane, meeting Jaz’s gaze as she looked back at him over her shoulder. “You can see the runes?” 

“Yeah, kind of hard to miss.” 

“For a Shadowhunter. They should be invisible to most mundanes. When did you get the Sight?” 

“I don’t know. But whoever drew these should take some lessons from Clary. Their uh, work is pretty sloppy.” 

Clary touched a red marking on the wall, a look of nostalgia settling onto her features. The mark was a red heart with her and Simon's initials in the center of it. “This is from when Simon and I were engaged to be married.” 

“You were engaged?” Jaz asked, suddenly intrigued by the simple lives mundanes seemed to lead. 

Alec rolled his eyes, sending Jaz a look of complete distaste. “I’m almost certain I don’t wanna hear this story, but-” 

Simon looked up at the heart on the wall. “We were eight years old.” 

“That was a whole other world ago.” Clary finished, meeting her best friend’s gaze with a soft smile. She moved to the back door and pulled on it then turned to face him again when it wouldn’t budge. “There’s only one flaw in your plan here, Simon.” 

“Here, let me try.” He stepped over to Clary and gripped the doorknob, then pulled it open with one quick jerk of his arm. He stepped back to let her through. “After you.” 

“Okay.” Clary stepped through the doorway. 

Simon pushed Alec and Jaz back when they moved to enter the loft after her, sliding his way past them with a rude smile. “Ooh. After me.” 

Jaz took one last look around the back of the building, her level of patience wearing thin as she followed Alec inside. “I am so close to knocking the mundane on his ass.” 

The four of them quietly moved through the loft, Clary leading them to the bedrooms. But when they arrived, she found that her room and everything in it had once been lit on fire, the whole place covered in soot and ashes. 

“Holy crap, Clary. Who torched your place?” Simon asked, taking in the state of the room. “Yeah, I can see this, too. Hey, you okay?” 

“There’s nothing left of me here,” Clary answered, glancing around at the charred remains of her room. 

“Of course, there isn’t. Your mother was trying to erase any trace that you existed. So that you couldn’t be tracked.” Alec told her, reaching for something on the shelf in front of him. “She was protecting you.” 

“Let’s see how well that worked,” she replied, sighing. 

“You’re alive, aren’t you?” He asked. If only the Fairchild girl could understand how lucky she was to have a mother who was willing to stop at nothing to ensure her daughter’s safety, Jaz would have given anything to be able to experience that kind of love from someone. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Jaz caught sight of Simon paying unusually close attention to the floor. “What is the mundane doing now?” 

Simon slowly stepped through the room, pausing at a few loose floorboards and stepping on them repeatedly. “These floorboards... They sound different in these two spots. Can you hear it? There’s something under here?” He knelt down, tapping on the ones he had previously indicated, then lifted away some of the charred remains of carpet. Pulled the piece of the board away and set it aside. “Another score for Brooklyn.” 

“Hey, out of the way,” Jaz ordered, pushing Simon off to the side and taking his place on the floor. 

“You’re welcome,” Simon answered, frustrated with the blonde’s inability to display proper manners. 

“Jaz, what did you find?” Alec inquired, shoving past Simon and kneeling down next to her. 

“There’s something down here,” Jaz rolled the sleeve of her jacket up and reached into the hole in the floor. After a few minutes of struggle, she pulled up a wooden box. She carefully handed it to Clary. “Is this the box you remember?” 

“Yeah,” Clary began, taking the box and running her fingers over the intricate design on the top. “She used to wait till she thought I was asleep and then take it out.” 

“Well, let’s open it.” Simon offered from his place beside her. 

Alec helped Jaz stand and the two of them approached Clary quietly, they could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t quite ready to see what was inside or be reminded of her mother. But she had snuck out, caused the two of them to be at odds, and all for this little box. 

“For once, I agree with the mundane,” Jaz commented. 

“I don’t know what any of this is...” Clary told them as she took a slow breath and opened the box. As she studied its contents, the expression on her face changed to one of confusion and uncertainty. 

Before the others could say anything, the sound of something in the house shattering, drew their attention through the doorway. Alec moved to the bedroom door, his eyes scanned over the rest of the loft and he glanced back over his shoulder at Jaz, Clary, and Simon. “There’s someone here. Get what you need, do not move until we get back. We’ve been here too long. Jaz, let’s go.” 

The blonde nodded, silently following after the older man. She couldn’t deny that the longer they were in the loft, the more she had felt like agreeing to the whole thing had been a bad idea. The two Shadowhunters made their way back outside; jumping down from the fire escape, Alec’s bow and quiver full of arrows deglamoured on his back.  

“Go. I’ve got your back” Jaz reassured him. She reached over her shoulder and grasped the handle of the katana that deglamoured in the sheath on her back. 

Alec carefully surveyed the back alley, a rustling sound a few feet away drew his attention across the alley to some bushes. He signaled for Jaz to stay quiet and slowly made his way over, knocking an arrow in his bow. A shadow streaked past his line of sight and he took off after it, with Jaz close behind him; they could hear the creature growl and if either one had to guess, they’d say it had been a werewolf, though neither one could tell where it had ended up. In an attempt to track its movements, Alec let go of his arrow but instead of hitting what appeared to be a wolf, found its target in a nearby potted plant as the werewolf left the alley. 

“I’ll grab Clary and the mundane, we need to get out of here,” Jaz stated firmly, turning to head back up the fire escape. 

 _“Let go. Seriously, Alaric.”_  Clary’s voice met both Shadowhunters’ ears and they raced to the end of the alley in just enough time to see the redhead and the mundane being shoved into the back of an unknown car and driven away. 

Alec glanced around them frantically, then settled his stormy hazel eyes on Jaz’s face. “I never should have let you talk me into this mess. I knew better. Once again, you and whatever stupid thing you have going on with this girl is going to get us in even more trouble with Mom and the Clave.” 

“I don’t know what you’re getting so mad at me for, I didn’t tell her to sneak out. She did that on her own. I’ll follow them as far as I can,” Jaz answered, slipping her katana back in its sheath and looking down the street in the direction the car had gone. She removed a chain from around her neck and held it out to the man in front of her. “Use this to track me down if I don’t get back to you soon, okay? And whatever you do, don’t tell Izzy and Jace where I went unless you absolutely have to.” 

“What? No, are you insane? If anything happens to you, my mother, Jace, and Izzy are going to kill me. We’ll find another way.” 

“That’s why you’re not going to tell them. It’ll be fine, I’m glamoured. I’ll follow them down the street and stay far enough away so they won’t be able to tell. I’ll call you later when I have a location.” 

“No, Jaz, don’t be stupid. Do you have any idea the kind of trouble we’re going to get into if this fails? If something happens to you? Damn it, Jaz. Stop and think about this!” 

“Alec, yell at me later, all right? Let’s focus on getting her back first. See you, Lightwood.” Jaz patted the older man on the arm and headed down the street, mingling into the crowd of mundanes as she followed after the car. 

“See you, Summerwell,” Alec returned with a sigh. He glanced down at the chain in his hands, a hawk feather hung at the end of it. As upset as he was at the blonde, he couldn’t help but smile as he thought of the similar chain worn by his  _parabatai_ , with a falcon feather at the end. He shook his head and made his way back into the loft, sending a text to Jace on the way. If Jaz’s plan failed, Alec would need all the help he could get to find her and Clary before it was too late. 

Now that Jaz had gone after them, the weight of the situation settled on Alec’s shoulders and with nothing else to go on, he was visibly stressed out. He glanced around the room, his gaze landed on a box near the bed and he tossed it at the wall across the room. Not only had he lost Clary once when she’d snuck out of the Institute, but he’d lost her a second time and hadn’t been able to keep Jaz from going on a suicide mission to try and save her. 

Jace entered the bedroom just as the box collided with the bookcase against the wall and made his way over to the distraught young man. “Where is she? Where’s Clary?” 

“She’s gone,” he answered simply. 

“What do you mean, gone?” Izzy asked, stopping behind Jace. 

“She and Simon got arrested when Jaz and I were securing the fire escape. I got distracted.” 

“The mundane was here?” 

“Simon? He’s gone, too?” 

“It was an unmarked car, I don’t know where they took her. Jaz went after them.” 

Izzy took a step toward her brother. “Jaz isn’t here?” 

“No, sh-she insisted on following them,” Alec said, avoiding Jace’s gaze. 

“What did you do, Alec?” Jace asked, eyeing the man closely. He turned, grabbing one of Clary’s drawings from the dresser on his way out. 

Alec and Izzy followed Jace back to the shortcut Simon had led the Shadowhunters and Clary down earlier that morning. His conversation with Jaz flashed in his mind, but trying to reason with Jace now would be damn near impossible, he’d already made up his own mind that Alec had let him down. And any of Alec’s attempts to rectify the situation would be futile. Instead, the older Lightwood stood off to the side, watching as Jace desperately tried to locate his best friend and the Fray girl. 

With the drawing held firmly between his hands, Jace attempted to track Clary’s location. He sighed. “Damn it, she’s not showing up. We need to  _parabatai track_.” Jace approached the taller man and used his stele to activate the  _Bridge rune_  on Alec’s palm. He then clasped Alec’s right hand in his own, with Clary’s drawing placed between them. As the two men closed their eyes, a bright light began encompassing their hands. “Alec, concentrate.” Jace lightly scolded when they were shaken out of the bond. “Alec!” 

“I’m doing it, she’s not showing up.” Alec corrected. 

Izzy’s phone chimed and she made her way over to her brothers. “Just like I thought, she wasn’t arrested.” 

Jace’s face twisted into an expression of anger as he closed the gap between him and Alec once more. “It was your job to protect her. You and Jaz.” 

“Yeah, and Jaz is out there right now, risking her life for that girl once again. You think that doesn’t matter? I did my best, Jace.” 

“Then maybe your mother was right, and your best just isn’t good enough.” 

“Jace!” Izzy interjected. 

“Hey! Are you so blinded by your feelings for Clary, you’ve lost sight of us? Of Jaz?” Alec asked, indignantly. 

“Oh, what about Jaz? Huh, Alec?  _You_  let her go after them alone.” 

“Oh, please. You know she wouldn’t have stayed behind even if I had threatened to tie her down. Clary snuck out. We went after her, to protect her. I did nothing you haven’t done a thousand times before.” 

“Yes, you did. You lost her.” 

“Enough, both of you. Someone has kidnapped Clary and Simon. And in case either of you has forgotten, wherever they are, Jaz is. Do you honestly think that you two standing here fighting with each other, is going to bring Clary or Simon or Jaz back?” Izzy called out, silencing the two men in front of her. 

“Alec, what are you doing?” Jace inquired calmly, looking over at his  _parabatai_. 

The taller man had stopped pacing back and forth, holding Jaz’s necklace between his hands. He kept his breaths even, focusing on finding her, doing his best to track the blonde. His attempt proved to be in vain when his track was blocked, just as it had been with Jace tracking Clary. “I was trying to track Jaz through her hawk feather, but I can’t find her.” 

“She never takes it off,” Jace answered, shaking his head. He was finding it hard to believe that Jaz would have removed her necklace so easily, she’d worn it every day since the day he’d given it to her. 

“She did when she decided to go after Clary and Simon,” Alec offered back, handing the necklace to Jace. “Jaz felt responsible for Clary sneaking out in the first place, she wanted to make it right. So, she gave me the feather before she left and said to track her if I didn’t hear back.” 

“Whoever took Clary and Simon must be holding them over a body of water, that’s why our tracking rune won’t work. It also explains why you couldn’t track Jaz either.” The blonde stated after a moment of thought. 

“Clary left her phone in her backpack,” Izzy stated, as the phone began to ring. 

Jace reached for the bag and grabbed Clary’s cell, putting the phone on speaker. “Hello?” 

 _“Oh, I thought I’d never utter these words, but thank God it’s you. It’s me, Simon,” the frantic mundane said._  

“Where are you? Where’s Clary?” Jace asked. 

 _“I don’t know. Some Chinese restaurant, I think. This cop, Alaric, arrested us but it was a total fake-out. Him and his buddy, they took us... they took us to their hangout and then they told Clary that they’ll kill her if they don’t find the Cup.”_  

“Just calm down, all right? Tell us what you see.” 

 _“Okay, uh... Uh, we’re definitely on a peer, there’s a ton of water. Uh, I see lockers and... Oh, my... I’m in some sort of torture chamber, there’s claw marks all over the wall.”_  

“Werewolves,” Izzy commented, looking between Jace and Alec. 

“That’s possible,” Alec agreed. 

Jace sighed. “Is Jaz with you?” 

 _“Who, the broody blonde chick? No, I haven’t seen her.”_  

“Focus. Okay, Simon, you need to get more specific. Tell us what you see, help us find you.” 

 _“There’s nothing else that can help. Wait, hold on, hold on. I’m at the Jade Wolf Chinese Restaurant on the pier at Greene Street. And they have really inexpensive cocktails. Just hurry, just hurry.”_  

“You need to create a diversion. Stall them,” Jace instructed, handing Clary’s phone to Alec. 

 _“How? All I have are clothes and a lighter...” Simon replied._  

“Start a fire, Simon.” 

 _“That never works! Have you ever seen an action movie?”_  

“We’re on our way,” Jace said, hanging up the phone. He closed his fist over the necklace in his hand; there was no way of knowing if Jaz had made it to the restaurant undetected and everything about the situation was rubbing him the wrong way. First, they had to get Clary back in one piece. Then, if she didn’t show up, he’d deal with his missing best friend. 

~

Jaz had done her best to stay as far out of sight as possible, if the men who had taken Clary and Simon were Downworlders, her glamour wouldn’t do much to keep her hidden. Luckily, she’d been able to stay far enough behind and remain undetected. Much to her surprise, the car never went to the precinct, in fact, it had blown right past and continued on to the pier. She’d watched from behind a shipping container as the man Clary had called Alaric, ushered her and Simon into the restaurant. Then, carefully perched herself on top of it, making sure she had a good view of the door. 

Night fell and Jaz still sat on top of her container, her interest piqued as she watched a small group of werewolves emerge from the front door and take off running toward Brooklyn. Her attention was drawn back to the door when the fire alarms inside the restaurant sounded and one of the other men dragged Clary outside and stuffed her into the container a few feet away. She pulled her phone from the pocket of her pants and quickly dialed the older Lightwood’s number. “I swear by the Angel, Alec if you don’t pick up...” 

 _“Jaz, where are you? Are you all right?” Alec’s voice asked on the other end of the line._  

“I’m fine, Alec. Listen, I think I’m at a wolf den down by the docks. A small group of werewolves just headed your way. If I had to guess, I’d say they’re headed back to Clary’s loft.” 

 _“Do you have eyes on Clary?”_  

“Yeah, one of the guys just tossed her into a shipping container. But I don’t know where they’re holding the mundane.” 

 _“All right, just stay hidden. Keep your eyes on_ _that container_ _and don’t move until we get there.”_  

“We?” 

 _“Izzy and Jace are with me,” Alec confessed._  

“Alec, I told you not to tell them,” Jaz groaned, running her free hand through her blonde hair. She was about to scold him when she noticed a tall figure approaching Clary’s container. “Okay, we can argue about that later. Someone just unlatched the door on the container Clary’s in. I’ll keep an eye on it but you guys need to get here soon. If anything happens, I won’t be able to hold them all off on my own and search for Simon.” 

 _“We’re almost there, stay out of sight. If_ something goes wrong, _get Clary out of there_ _and back to the Institute_ _.” Alec responded, hanging up his phone._  

Jaz sighed, slipping her phone back into her pocket. She ran the tip of her stele over the  _Agility rune_  on the outside of her right shoulder and the  _Sure-Footed rune_  on her right flank then took off across the scattered containers to the one holding Clary. She landed on top of it just as Alec and Jace rounded the corner, to see the man she’d seen earlier leaving the container with Clary over his shoulder. 

“Alec!” Jace called out as he moved behind them and kicked at the back of the man’s knees causing him to release his grip on the girl in his arms. The blonde then delivered a swift punch to the side of his head, effectively knocking him unconscious. 

“Got her!” Alec braced himself to catch Clary as she went flying forward, then set her on the ground. 

“You okay?” Jace asked her. 

“I will be, as soon as we find Simon.” She answered, taking off in the direction of the front of the restaurant. 

“Wait,” Alec yelled, stopping Clary and Jace before they could get very far. “Where’s Jaz?” 

At the mention of her name, Jaz flipped herself over the edge of the shipping container and landed on her feet between Alec and Jace. The blonde grinned, pointing up to the top of the container. “Really, you didn’t think to look up?” 

“Come on, we need to find Izzy and Simon and get out of here,” Jace said, ignoring Jaz’s playful tone.  

The young woman rolled her eyes, following the other three back to the front of the restaurant. She knew Jace would be upset with her, but she hadn’t counted on him not even acknowledging her safety when they met up again. It wasn’t like him to blatantly ignore her presence after knowing she’d risk her life to complete whatever mission she was on, especially given the last few days. But now that he hadn’t even spared her a glance, Jaz realized that she was probably in way more trouble with Jace for losing Clary than she was with Alec for going after her. 

As soon as she saw Izzy walking toward them with Simon in tow, she pushed all thoughts of Jace and his attitude out of her mind. Sprinting forward to reunite with her best friend. “Izzy!” 

“By the Angel, Jaz!” Izzy exclaimed, enveloping the blonde in a hug. The younger Lightwood sighed, she knew full well the things Jaz was capable of and that she would stop at nothing until she’d reached her goal. In truth, Izzy was more relieved to see Jaz safe than she was angry with the fact that the other woman had taken it upon herself to conduct a solo rescue mission. She held Jaz at arm’s length, looking her over carefully. 

“Iz, I’m okay. Honestly, it was easy.” Jaz told her, smiling proudly. 

“When Alec said you’d gone after them, I was worried that...” Izzy said, shaking her head in disbelief. 

“Izzy, we’re bound together for life, remember? You can’t get rid of me that easily.” Jaz answered. 

The two women turned and watched as Clary and Simon ran to each other just as they had done moments before. Jaz rolled her eyes, earning a jab in the side from Izzy, she shrugged. 

“I hate to break up this little reunion, but we got a bunch of werewolves trying to kill us so maybe we should get maybe we should get going-” Jace began but was cut off by Clary before he could finish his sentence. 

The redhead frantically looked around at the four Shadowhunters in front of her. “Wait, wait, the box. My backpack. I think I left it at the loft.” 

“No, we’ve got it. I didn’t screw up everything.” Alec told her, shaking his head at the inquisitive look Jaz was giving him. He knew she could tell by the look on his face that something had happened between him and Jace again and that she wouldn’t let the topic go that easily. 

“Let’s get out of here then,” Simon said, turning to walk past Izzy. 

The dark-haired woman held her arm out in front of Simon, stopping him before he could get very far. “Wait, Simon. Whatever you do, do not make any fast moves.” She slowly turned to her right side, meeting Jaz’s gaze. “Any ideas?” 

“I say, if worse comes to worst, we fight our way out.” The blonde slowly drew her katana from its sheath on her back and dropped into her fighting stance.” 

“Wha- She has a katana! Really?” Simon exclaimed, surprise and disbelief evident in his voice. Though they had repeatedly saved his life, he was becoming more and more aware of the danger the Shadowhunters always seemed to be surrounded by. And because Clary was now spending all of her time around them, it meant that they were both constantly in danger themselves. 

As the pack of werewolves began to surround them, Jace stepped forward, keeping his eyes trained on the werewolf directly in front of the group. He turned to meet Jaz’s gaze, acknowledging her for the first time with a curt nod. “This can’t be good.” 

“We’re surrounded,” Alec noted, drawing an arrow from his quiver and knocking it in his bow. He turned around slowly, taking in the position of every wolf. “Everyone, stay together.” 

“Believe me, I’m not going anywhere,” Simon said, watching the creatures. 

The door of the restaurant was pushed open and a werewolf larger than the others began slowly stalking toward the group of young adults in the middle of the clearing. Jace shuffled back, his seraph blade poised at the ready. “Everyone, get back, that’s the alpha leader!” 

“Jace, behind!” The urgency in Jaz’s voice spun Jace and the others around quickly, as a second wolf appeared out of the shadows on top of the containers behind them. The wolf paid them no mind, instead it jumped over them from the container and knocked into the alpha before it had a chance to attack them. The group watched closely as the two wolves continued to fight each other. 

“He’s challenging the alpha,” Alec stated with his bow still trained on one of the other wolves in the pack. 

“He’s helping us,” Clary agreed in disbelief. 

“Or cutting in line to kill us,” Simon answered with his usual air of paranoia. 

A few feet away, a tower of pallets was knocked over and a pained whine came from underneath them. Slowly, with Jaz and Jace at the front, the Shadowhunters approached with Clary and Simon between them. 

“The alpha is dead,” Izzy informed. The group of young adults stayed in place, watching as the wolf that had attacked the alpha emerged from under the pile of pallets. He slowly approached, a swirl of green light surrounded him as he shifted back to his human form. 

“Oh, my God, Luke.” Clary breathed out, looking at the man in front of them. Behind them, the rest of the werewolves in the pack began howling, all shifting back in turn and dropping to their knees with their eyes trained on the man Clary had addressed as Luke. The redhead turned to Jace, unsure of what to make of the display in front of her. “What is it? What’s happening?” 

Jace turned back to the man behind him. “When a werewolf kills the alpha leader, he becomes the new alpha. Your friend Luke’s the leader of the pack now.” 

As Jaz watched the scene unfold before her, she couldn’t believe how much trouble one little box had caused them. What should have been an easy day staying around the Institute, had turned into a search and rescue mission with the added surprise of finding the den of a pack of werewolves. Taking note of the way Jace protectively held Clary back when Luke called to her, she was beginning to piece together what had come between the two boys she’d known her whole life. Chaos stemmed from being in the presence of the Fairchild girl, weaving its way between the pair of brothers and driving a wedge between Jaz and her oldest friend. She wasn’t sure how she was going to repair the damage between her and Jace or where to even begin trying to help him and Alec, but she was determined to return her family back to normal. The sound of Alec and Jace’s voices brought her attention back to the five people in front of her. 

“We have to report back to our mother,” Alec was saying, no doubt trying his best to take control of the situation before they got involved in something that didn’t require the concern of Shadowhunters. 

“You and Isabelle can do that, I’ll be fine on my own.” Jace returned his seraph blade to his back pocket and backed away from his  _parabatai_. 

“Wait, Jace. Where are you going?” Jaz rushed forward, grabbing onto Jace’s right arm. When the blonde spun around to face her, she was met with a storm of fury in his usually bright eyes. 

“You don’t need to worry about what I’m doing or where I’m going,” Jace answered, bitterly biting off the end of his sentence. His response stunned the young woman, in all their years together, he’d never treated her with such disdain before. In fact, it was the first time Jaz had ever seen Jace look at her like he had no idea who she was. 

“Jace?” She tried again, silently willing him to talk to her, to tell her what was wrong and how she was supposed to fix it. 

“Go home, Jaz.” Jace pulled his arm out of her grasp and turned back to Clary and Simon. 

Jaz stood off to the side with Alec and Izzy, watching Jace help Clary and Simon load Luke into the car and the three of them took off. She kept her gaze trained on the car until she couldn’t see it any longer, Jace didn’t even look back at her. A sudden rage took over Jaz’s body and she turned, punching the nearby shipping container with enough force to cause a considerably large sized dent in the metal. 

“Jaz!” Izzy ran to the blonde’s side, taking Jaz’s wounded hand in both of hers. It was no surprise to either of the Lightwood siblings that she hadn’t even flinched when Izzy touched her bruised and broken fingers. With a sigh, Izzy quickly drew the  _Iratze_ _rune_  over the back of her friend’s hand. “Let it go. You know he just needs time, he’ll come back. He always comes back.” 

“Not as long as he thinks he’s in charge of Clary, he won’t.” Jaz shook her head, flexing her fingers as they began to heal. She avoided meeting Alec’s worried glance and moved past him, thankful for his understanding silence.


	6. Of Men and Angels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Jace out helping Clary try to save the werewolf, Luke, Jaz is left alone to wrestle with where that leaves the two of them. Knowing the stubbornness that both blondes harbor, Alec and Izzy do their best to set them back on the same path. But it isn't until Jace calls in a favor from his parabatai, that things begin to shift once more.

By the time Jaz, Alec, and Izzy had returned to the Institute, the blonde was fuming internally. Over the last few hours, Clary had turned things upside down, and Jace had voluntarily walked away from the two people who should have mattered the most to him. Jaz would never forget the look in his eyes as he told her he didn’t need her help, then left without looking back.

Jaz stormed through the Institute, ignored the questioning glances from Maryse and other Shadowhunters, and continued past the Ops Center. She knew that her adoptive mother would ask about what happened with Clary as well as inquire about Jace’s absence by her side upon her return; having neither the desire or energy to deal with that at the present moment, she quickly made her way to her room. Jace’s voice rang through her mind as she stood at her dresser, staring at her stele. _“Never leave home without it...”_ She shook her head, the last thing she wanted to hear was his voice speaking one of their many promises to each other while he was off gallivanting after Clary Fairchild.

There was a soft knock at the door; Jaz didn’t need to turn around to see who had come to check on her. She quickly threw her arm to the side; her gaze followed the path of her hand as she let go of her stele, only to land on Izzy where she stood in the doorway.

Jaz sighed, dropping her arm back to her side. “Izzy, I really don’t want to talk about Jace right now.”

“I know, that’s why I didn’t come to ask you about Jace,” Izzy admitted. She had caught Jaz’s stele before it could be embedded in the wall beside her head. She stepped into the room and handed it back to the blonde. “I came to ask about your hand, but it seems to be doing much better now.”

“Yeah, it is. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be. Look, I know things are crazy right now, but you’ll be okay. You always are. Give it time.”

“How much time, Iz? In less than a week, I’ve nearly died twice, Alec and Jace have stopped speaking to each other. More than that, the one person I could count on to never turn their back on me, not including you and Alec, did just that.”

“Jace and Alec are _parabatai_ , like you and I, nothing can tear them apart. But some time away might be good for them. And you? Jazzy, you’re the only one besides Alec that Jace would give his life for. You’re the falcon and the hawk. He may have walked away from you tonight, but he would never leave you behind.”

At that, Jaz chuckled dryly. She knew Izzy was right, as crazy as things had become, the four of them were more than just a team, they were family. There was nothing they could go through that would break the bonds they had with each other.

Jaz sighed, turning to face Izzy with a soft smile. She automatically raised her hand to the chain around her neck, but frowned when her fingers only came into contact with her skin. She grabbed Izzy gently by the shoulders and turned her around, then pushed her back through the door.

“What are you doing?” Izzy asked, letting the blonde steer her toward Alec’s room.

“Alec still has my feather. And I have to cover Jace’s absence with your parents.” Jaz answered simply.

“Mom’s in rare form today,” Izzy noted as she and Jaz stepped through the door.

“She’s been different since she got back from Idris,” Alec told her, turning to face his sisters.

Izzy sighed. “If you say so. Same old judgmental Mom with me. Have you spoken to Jace yet?”

“Benching me was definitely out of character for her,” Jaz put in. “Hey, Lightwood, can I get my necklace back?”

Alec stiffened slightly. “No, Jace has it. And he can call me when he’s done chasing the little girl-”

“Alec, you need to call Jace.”

“What happened to ‘give it some time’?” Jaz inquired, quirking her eyebrow at her best friend.

“No ‘welcome home’ for the old man?” A voice called from just inside the door, pulling the three young Shadowhunters’ attention away from each other. Their father, Robert stood in front of them with their little brother, Max.

“Max!” Alec exclaimed, bending down so the little boy could run into his arms. He handed the boy over to Jaz who had knelt down next to them, ruffling Max’s hair.

Izzy left her siblings and moved forward to hug her father. “Daddy!”

“What are you doing back so soon?” Jaz asked Max, holding him in front of her and Alec.

“Got in trouble in Mumbai,” he replied nonchalantly.

“Oh, what’d you do?”

“Nothing.”

Before the boy could say anything else, Robert spoke up behind the trio. “He started a fire with his stele during rune studies.”

Izzy chuckled and knelt down next to the others, pulling Max into a hug. “Max.”

“I told you, I was hungry,” he continued, putting his arms around his sister’s neck. He turned to look at Jaz and Alec. “I was trying to draw the Nourishment rune.”

“Those two runes look nothing alike, Max.” Alec told him.

“Well, they do to me.”

“Max, go up to your room, open the Gray Book and look up the Extinguish rune.” Robert instructed his youngest son with a sigh. Once the boy had left, Robert stepped the rest of the way into the room and walked up to Alec and Jaz who stood. “Where is Clary Fairchild. Your mother said she’s missing. And Jaz, you were benched.”

“Robert, it’s good to see you.” The blonde stepped forward for her own brief hug from her adoptive father. “Only temporarily.”

Alec looked his father straight in the eyes. “She’s not missing. She’s with Jace.”

“We can’t have that girl out of Institute control. The entire Shadow World is looking for her. It’s a security risk. Get them both back here now. When you do, Jaz, I want to speak with you and Jace.” Robert ordered. He turned and made his way out of the room, leaving Izzy, Jaz, and Alec staring after him.

“Where are you going?” Alec asked, when Jaz moved to leave the room. Though he knew Jace was probably the last person Jaz wanted to speak to, he was going to try his best to avoid confronting him for as long as possible. Even if it meant sticking Jaz with the task of tracking him down.

“Oh, no, Lightwood. You’re not about to stick this on me. I’ve had enough of both of them for one day.” Jaz replied firmly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Izzy stood off to the side watching the silent conversation her brother and sister were having, knowing that one of them would have to give in eventually and it wouldn’t be Jaz. There was nothing she or Alec could say that would convince the blonde to change her mind.

“You’re acting head of the Institute when Mom and Dad are away, he’s your _parabatai_ , you call him.”

“Clary snuck out on my watch, I let you go after her and you could’ve been killed, Jace doesn’t want to speak to me.”

“When you guys got to the Jade Wolf, Jace didn’t even ask if I was okay, he hardly spoke to me the entire time, he turned his back on me and left. You want him back here? Do it yourself, I’m done.”

The Lightwood siblings watched as Jaz left the room, they let her go. Neither one wanted to comment on the storm that was radiating off of their sister, but they both knew it was only a matter of time before it tore down anything in its path. They both knew how stubborn Jace and Jaz could be, no one would be able to get them to reconcile their differences before they were ready to.

Izzy finally took a step toward the door. “I’ll keep an eye on Jaz, you find Jace and Clary. Tell him whatever you have to, just get him back here to talk to her.”

“Got it,” Alec nodded his understanding, accepting his defeat and pulled his phone from his pocket. He slowly made his way from his room, walking through the residency wing and down the stairs. He dialed Jace’s number and waited for him to answer. “You need to get back to the Institute.”

_“You need to help me first,” Jace said on the other end of the line._

“No, I’m not messing around.”

_“Me either. I need your help.”_

“You okay?”

_“I’m fine. It’s Magnus. He needs your powerful Shadowhunter energy, or something like that.”_

“Magnus... W-Why does Magnus need me?”

_“To help save Luke’s life.”_

Alec stopped at the end of the hallway. “No, I told you at the wolf den, no more Downworlder business. We can’t be seen as interfering with a pack alpha dispute. How can you even ask me-?”

 _“I shouldn’t have to ask you, Alec. We’re_ parabatai _,” Jace said, interrupting him._

“That’s exactly my point,” Alec went on.

_“Alec, you’re a man of honor, and the only person in the world I would trust with something like this. I’m counting on you to do the right thing.” Jace told him firmly._

Alec continued down the hall, he stopped at the top of the platform overlooking the Ops Center, a head of golden hair caught his attention. He sighed. “Look, Jace, you can count on me. You can trust me, but I’m not the only one.”

_On his end of the line, Jace let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t want to talk about her right now, Alec.”_

“Yeah, well, you have to. Whatever’s going on with you two, you need to get back here and fix it.”

_“I already told you, I’m helping Clary. Jaz is a big girl, she’ll be fine on her own.”_

“Damn it, Jace. When are you going to realize that that girl is driving a wedge between you two?”

_“Alec, we’ve been over this already. Listen to me-”_

This time, Alec cut Jace off before he could finish his sentence. “No, Jace, you listen. You’ve been so busy running after Clary that you’ve missed what is right in front of your face.”

_“And what exactly is it that you think I’m missing?” Jace asked, losing his patience with his parabatai._

“If you honestly have to ask me that, you can figure it out on your own. I’ll talk to you later.” Alec finished, then hung up. He sighed, decided that he needed Jaz’s help and descended the stairs into the Ops Center.

Jaz was standing at one of the monitors in the middle of the room with her back toward Alec. He could tell by her body language that approaching her about Jace would be a bad idea but it had to be done. The older brother in Alec Lightwood wanted to protect Jaz from the weight that was crushing her shoulders, but the acting head of the Institute in him needed her by his side. Though it would take a while for the young man to forgive himself for tossing Jaz headfirst back into the middle of Clary and Jace’s drama, he knew she would understand that it had to be done.

He took a deep breath and slowly walked up to her side, waiting for her to acknowledge him before he brought up Jace and Clary again. When she made no move to give him her attention, he went on anyway. “I need you for mission.”

“I’m busy,” she returned bitterly. She kept her eyes glued to the monitor in front of her, occasionally glancing down at the tablet in her hands. She was filing mission reports, leaving enough out of them to keep the team from getting flagged for going outside of the Clave’s jurisdiction, but putting enough into them to keep the Clave informed of what had been happening.

“Just hear me out, all right?” Alec asked. He continued on when she finally turned to face him. “Magnus apparently needs my help keeping the werewolf leader alive, I need you to watch our backs and make sure Valentine’s men don’t find us at the loft.”

“I’m busy making sure your _parabatai_ doesn’t get benched like I did. Ask Izzy to do it.”

“Izzy is on our mother’s radar and needs to lay low. Jaz, I need _you_. I wouldn’t ask you to do this if there were any other way.”

The blonde sighed. Alec may be Jace’s _parabatai_ , but he was her brother. She’d always have his back. She nodded, giving him a shy smile. “Of course, I’ve got your back, Lightwood.”

“And I’ve got yours, Summerwell.” Alec said, returning her smile.

It would be a while before Jaz was ready to go, so Alec busied himself with a light training session. Interrupted halfway through by Izzy, his attitude had soured considerably by the time he and Jaz geared up and headed for Magnus’s loft. As they walked down the streets of Brooklyn, an uncomfortable silence passed between them, one Alec could no longer ignore. He reached his left hand out and grabbed on to Jaz’s right arm, stopping the young woman from continuing on.

“Okay, what is going on with you?” He asked. Though it was still dark out and the streets were mostly bare, they kept themselves glamoured.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she answered, feigning ignorance at his question.

“Oh, come on. I know you better than that, you never just blindly come along for the ride. With Jace, maybe. But not with me. What’s wrong with you?”

“Forget it, Alec. It’s not important.”

“You know, don’t you? About what my parents have decided.”

“Izzy told me right before we left. She hoped I could talk some sense into you.”

“That wasn’t her place.”

Jaz scoffed. “Not her place? Alec, were you going to tell me?”

“That’s beside the point,” he answered, frustrated.

“Is that why we’re going to Magnus’s?” She pressed further.

“Forget it, all right? I’ll handle it.”

“What are you trying to prove?”

“Nothing,” he said flatly. The two resumed their walk.

Soon enough, they reached Magnus’s loft, the building was shaking as if it had been hit by an earthquake. They could only guess it had something to do with Luke’s condition. Making their way inside as quickly as possible, they barely had time to take in the state of the loft before Clary was rushing past them and into the other room.

Jaz turned to her brother. “Go help Magnus, I’ll help Clary!”

“I thought you’d had enough of her for one day?” Alec teased.

“Shut up! Jace is counting on you and you’re counting on me.” She answered, rolling her eyes. She placed her hand on Alec’s shoulder and nodded, then ran off after the redhead. Jaz found Clary rifling through labeled bottles on one of Magnus’s shelves, searching for a particular ingredient. “What do you need?”

Startled, Clary turned to see Jaz had appeared by her side. She smiled, grateful for the blonde’s presence. “Magnus said the potion to cure Luke needs Komodo scale, but I don’t know what that looks like!”

“We’ll find it faster if we look together!” Jaz offered back. A few moments later, she spotted the bottled and pulled it off the shelf, handing it to the girl beside her. “Here, hurry!”

The two of them headed back into the main room, just as Jace and Simon rushed through the door.

“Clary!” Jace called out to her, though he was momentarily stunned to see Jaz standing next to her.

“Do you have it?” Clary asked, ignoring the strange energy suddenly flowing off of the man in front of her.

“Yeah,” he handed her the pouch with the rest of the ingredients, his eyes moved from her to Jaz.

“Thanks,” Clary rushed to the table. She added the rest of what was needed to the potion and poured it into a small cup, then made her way over to Luke’s side, leaving the two blonde Shadowhunters staring at each other in silence. She quickly fed the potion to Luke and as quickly as the shaking had began, it stopped.

Magnus slumped against Alec’s chest, the former breathing heavily while the latter still held on to him.

“You okay?” Alec inquired.

“Yeah,” Magnus’s energy was nearly completely spent, but he nodded gratefully up at the dark-haired man.

~

Things had finally settled down and Luke was on the mend. Alec and Jaz entered the living room once again, breezing past Clary who stood over the leather couch. None of them spoke, instead the other two began picking books up from where they’d landed on the floor, placing them back in their spots on the bookshelf. A slight tension hung in the air between the three of them, broken only by Clary’s voice when she finally addressed them.

“Alec, wait. If you hadn’t gotten here in time, I…” The redhead said, drawing their attention to her. She slowly moved over to where they stood. “I’m just glad that you and Jace are okay now.”

“I didn’t do this for Jace,” Alec told her.

“Then I’m glad you did it for you,” she replied, looking to Jaz. If she was going to thank the blonde for her assistance as well, she thought better of it as Jace entered the room. The two of them watched the interaction between the boys.

Alec simply held his hand out and waited to see if Jace would take it. To Jaz’s surprise, he did and pulled Alec into a hug which he quickly returned.

“Thank you,” Jace said softly, patting his _parabatai_ on the back. When Alec left, Jace turned to Clary as Jaz resumed her task of restocking the bookshelf. “You have an interesting effect on people, Clary Fray.”

“He helped save Luke’s life. You all did. Thank you.”

“For what? For running an errand?”

“For having my back.”

“I’m always gonna have your back,” Jace said softly. He went to reach for Clary’s cheek, but dropped his hand back down to his side. They continued to stare at each other for a while before Simon walked in and interrupted them.

“Clary,” Simon paused, noticing the way she and Jace had been looking at each other. “Luke’s asking for you.”

“Yeah. Right.” She rushed forward and wrapped Simon in a quick hug. “Thank you. So much.”

Simon’s eyes met Jace’s briefly, he walked past the other man without another word.

“Simon,” Jace turned to address the mundane, but fell short with a sigh.

“It’s cool,” was all Simon offered back, taking a 20 dollar bill from his pocket and setting it on the arm of the couch. He turned, nodded politely at Jaz then left the loft.

The air between the two blondes was thick, neither of the spoken. Jace watched quietly as Jaz returned the books to their proper places. He smirked, recalling how she rearranged every book in the Institute library by subject, color, and name the last time she had been this upset with him. He’d found her 12-year-old form curled up in one of the chairs, sound asleep. She had spent hours doing everything she could to avoid him, anything to keep him on edge as long as it took for him to get over his ego. Now, he recognized that same determination in her nine years later.

There was so much he needed to say to her, but he couldn’t find the words. He had turned his back on her, he wouldn’t be surprised if she were to do the same just then. But he needed to try at least, if not for their sake, then for the sake of the team. He took a deep breath and walked over to where she stood, stopping beside her. She made no point to acknowledge his presence at her side, he reminded himself that he deserved even less than that.

“Jaz, can we talk?” He tried, giving her some time to decide whether or not she wanted to stick around. She kept silent, he continued. “You have every right to be angry with me, I-”

Jaz’s glare cut off the end of his sentence. Now he could see the same storm brewing in her eyes, that had been in his only a few hours before.

“You’re right,” she said. “I have every right to be angry with you, every right to walk out that door without so much as hearing what you have to say. But I’m not you, Jace. I’m not going to turn my back on you, even if you do deserve it.”

The blonde swallowed. His eyes locked on hers and he could see the emotions swirling in them; anger, frustration, confusion, and pain. He nodded his understanding. “I never should have walked away from you like that. We’ve always had each other’s backs. More than that, I shouldn’t have blamed you for losing Clary. It wasn’t your fault and I know that now.”

“You should have known then,” Jaz bit back.

“You’re right. How can I make it up to you?”

“You can’t. Just remember where your loyalties lie next time, and lay off of Alec. Clary sneaking out wasn’t his fault either. He has enough to worry about right now as it is.”

It wasn’t the best, but he’d take it. At least they were talking again and could put what happened at the wolf den behind them. The weight on both of their shoulders finally lifted. Jace took the stack of books from Jaz’s hands and set about helping her return them to the shelf.

After a few more moments, Jaz spoke up again, a warm smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “All of us or none at all, Falcon.”

“All of us or none at all, Hawk.” Jace said, returning her smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was considerably shorter than the last one, but it pretty much sets the stage for the way the next few chapters are going to go.
> 
> I wonder, though, has anyone figured out why Jaz and Izzy are so close yet?
> 
> Let me know what you think so far in the comments below.  
> And as always, thanks for reading! :)


	7. Major Arcana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke takes the Shadowhunters to the precinct to retrieve the Mortal Cup tarot card. However, things take an interesting turn when he gets arrested. Jace, Jaz, and Clary take matters into their own hands. But when that proves to be a dead end, they call in reinforcements.

Jazmine Summerwell was buzzing. She had almost forgotten how much of a rush going rogue was; she had tried to trade in her do-it-my-way attitude for one that upheld the rules, but she couldn’t stay away from the exhilarating feeling of throwing caution aside to get things done. She’d been benched for all of one day and in that time had lost Clary twice, discovered a wolf den in Brooklyn, considered actually listening to Alec for once, and had found herself covering for Jace again as if their lives depended on it. She knew if Izzy had been standing next to her, she would have said  _“I told you so_ _…”_  

Jaz watched Jace pace back and forth while they waited for Clary to speak. He had been telling her about his trip with the mundane to gather the potion ingredients and had paused momentarily to take a breath. His face was an animated picture of irritation and disdain for Simon Lewis, which Jaz appreciated quite a bit. She twirled her stele between her fingers and waited for him to continue. 

The end of Jace’s story never came. 

Clary stood in front of the double doors that led to the balcony, lost in her own thoughts. Her conversation with Luke had left the redhead wondering about a few things, but she hadn’t given the others any indication as to what was on her mind yet. However, after a few minutes of heavy silence, she quickly turned around to face Magnus and the two blondes. “I know where the Cup is.” 

“Come again?” Jaz asked, nearly dropping her stele. She walked up beside Jace and looked at Clary with slight curiosity and disbelief in her brown eyes. They’d been searching for a key to finding the Mortal Cup for the better part of a week, a search which had come up short more often than not. Jaz was finding it very hard to believe that Clary suddenly had the answer to the burning question on all of their minds. 

“The tarot cards,” Clary began. She took a breath, then continued on in a rush, looking back and forth between the three people in front of her. “My mom, she must have painted them years ago, but the Mortal Cup has to be hidden inside the Ace of Cups. The card looks exactly like it.” 

Jace, Jaz, and Magnus all shared a look with each other that wasn’t lost on Clary. “Wait, why aren’t you guys happy about this? All we have to do is find… Dot.” 

“If Dot had the cards when she was taken, we don’t have much time.” Jace responded, looking back up at the redhead. “If Valentine gets his hands on the Cup-” 

Before he could finish his sentence, Magnus stood up and cut him off with a raised hand. “We know. If Valentine started creating Shadowhunters or gained control of demons, it’d be like Beyoncé riding on a dinosaur through Times Square. People would notice.” 

“But he can control demons. I’ve seen it.” Clary said, looking desperately at the others. 

“Mmm, paying off a few demons is easy, especially since they rarely survive long enough to collect.” 

“Still waiting on Valentine’s thank-you card,” Jace replied with a small quirk of his eyebrows. 

“Opening the gates of hell, that’s a little more tricky,” Magnus concluded. 

Luke entered the front room and stopped in the middle of the group. “Valentine doesn’t have the cards. I do.” When they turned to him with confused looks on their faces, he continued. “They’re in my desk back at the precinct. When Clary went missing, I went back to the loft and I cleared everything out ‘cause I didn’t want the Circle to track her. 

“That’s great. This should be easy.” Clary said, smiling hopefully. 

“Hmm, that’s what General Custer said.” The warlock offered, taking a seat in the red chair in front of Clary. 

“Magnus is right. Valentine has spies everywhere, even in the NYPD. We have to be discreet.” Luke went on. 

Clary scoffed, earning a small chuckle from Jaz. “Discreet? You look like something out of The Mummy movie.” 

“We’ll go in the morning. Werewolf healing, remember?” 

“This is nothing a couple of hours of beauty sleep can’t fix,” Jace spoke up looking at Clary and then turning to the blonde beside him who nodded in agreement. 

The next morning, Alec confronted Jace and Jaz on his way out. To their surprise, he’d spent most of the evening talking and sharing a few drinks with Magnus, they didn’t question it. At the very least, Jaz concluded that Alec needed to get a little wild before everything changed for him. She still wasn’t convinced that he’d be able to find a way out of having a marriage arranged for him, but she knew he was determined to try. However, she did wonder what that would mean for their team going forward. 

The last couple of hours had slowly begun to burn away at the tension hanging around Alec, Jace, and Jaz. Enough that while Alec made it explicitly clear that they needed to get back to the Institute, he didn’t press any further when Jace told him they’d only needed an hour at least. Jaz gratefully declined Alec’s offer to head home with him, reassuring the older Lightwood that she was fine to stay behind. Only after making the two golden-haired Shadowhunters promise to stay out of trouble, did Alec finally leave them to it. 

Now, multiple police sirens wailed as Luke led Clary, Jace, and Jaz to the front of the precinct. The cop paused to address the four young adults with him. “All right, cards are on my desk. It shouldn’t take long.” 

“All right,” Jace said. He and Jaz nodded, then they both took a step toward the door. 

Luke held his hands up, stopping the Shadowhunters before they could get past him. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. It’ll be easier to avoid unnecessary attention if I do this alone.” 

“We’ll wait here,” Clary answered as Luke turned toward the doors. 

“It sounded boring anyway.” Jaz quipped, crossing her arms over her chest and looked to Jace who had done the same. They both stood with impatient looks on their faces, and Clary realized just how much the two of them seemed to mirror each other. In more ways than one, they were perfect reflections of one another; an observation Clary made, noting that it had to have been because of all the time they spent together. 

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this. What’s taking him so long?” Clary asked after a while, glancing between Jace and the door. 

The blonde stood against a squad car with his arms crossed over his chest. “I know a way we could find out. Just go in and see for ourselves.” 

“Luke told us to stay put, so that’s what we’re gonna do.” Clary reached into her pocket for her phone when it started ringing. “That’s probably him now.” 

Jace’s gaze moved to the window above them, where he could see Luke being led down a hallway by two other men. “I doubt it. Just so I’m clear, he did mention something about trying to avoid attention, right? From the looks of it, he’s doing a terrible job.”  

Clary’s voice was slightly worried. “Circle members?” 

“No, mundanes. Internal Affairs officers.” Jaz corrected. She had turned her attention to the window, using her  _Vision rune_  to gather information about the men with Luke. 

“You can tell all that just by looking at them?” Clary asked Jace sweetly. 

He slightly shook his head, drawing his attention back to Clary. “We can tell that by looking at their badges.” He and Jaz took a moment to roll up the left and right sleeves of their leather jackets, both revealing  _Vision runes_  on their inner forearms. “Better than binoculars.” 

“Luke had his chance,” Jaz warned, looking to Jace who nodded in agreement. 

“Let’s go,” Jace said, leading Jaz and Clary toward the precinct. 

The three of them made sure to glamour themselves and slowly navigated their way through the precinct to the interrogation room where Luke was being held for questioning. They stepped through the door as it opened, unnoticed by the mundane agent. Luke’s gaze followed the two blonde Shadowhunters across the room to the opposite the door. 

“Garroway,” the agent called, drawing Luke’s attention back to him. “Coffee?” 

Luke’s eyes snapped back to the older man. “No. No, I’m good.” 

“Suit yourself,” he nodded and made his way from the room, pulling the door shut behind him. 

Reaching for a tissue from the box in front of him, Luke held it to his nose and addressed the two Shadowhunters in front of him. “Camera.” 

Jace glanced around the room, spotting the camera in the corner behind Jaz, he reached up and unplugged the cord. 

“Luke, what is going on?” Clary asked. She stepped forward and placed a hand on the cold metal table. 

“I think I’m about to be the prime suspect in a murder investigation.” 

The redhead sighed. “What do we do?” 

“Get the cards. In my desk, bottom drawer.” 

Clary turned toward the door with Jace and Jaz following behind her. “All right.” 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Luke’s voiced stopped the three of them before they could exit the room. “You can’t glamour yourselves. I’m not the only Downworlder on the force and we don’t know who’s working for Valentine. If anybody spots you-” 

“We’d be leading them right to the Mortal Cup.” Jace finished for him. 

“Exactly. Better to assume everybody has the Sight than gamble that they don’t.” 

The lock clicked and Clary quickly glanced between the door and Luke hesitantly. “Luke…” 

“I can handle myself,” he reassured them as the door opened again. He watched silently as the three of them slipped out of the room, with the Internal Affairs agent none the wiser.

They soon found themselves squeezing inside a small closet packed with stacks of case files. They were still glamoured, having successfully left the interrogation room without being seen by anyone with the Sight. Seeing as they couldn’t stay glamoured and make it to Luke’s desk for the tarot cards, they needed a plan but neither one could come up with anything. 

“Really? In here?” Jace asked impatiently as the three of them attempted to get comfortable enough inside the closet to deglamour. 

“Why not?” Clary answered simply. 

Jaz scoffed. “There’s got to be a better place.” 

“No, here’s good.” 

“Ow. All right.” Jace’s voice held a little more irritation, being crammed in the small space did nothing but further confirm what a stupid idea this had been. The stack of boxes to the right side of the closet rattled around as he worked to deglamour himself. A low pulse of energy sounded, and Jace reappeared. “You need help with that?” 

“I can deglamourize myself, Jace.” 

Another pulse of energy sounded around them and Jaz reappeared with her back against the door. “It’s ‘deglamour’.” 

“Whatever.” A few more seconds ticked by and Clary finally reappeared in front of Jace. “The cards?” 

The blonde looked around the cramped room. “Right. How exactly are we gonna get them?” 

“Pretty boy has a point,” Jaz spoke up. “I doubt we can make it out of this closet without drawing attention, let alone Luke’s desk and you are covered in runes.” 

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan.” 

“A good plan this time?” 

“90%. Just follow my lead. Oh, and I apologize.” 

Jace quirked an eyebrow suspiciously at the redhead. “Apologize for what?” 

“The other 10%,” Clary said softly, stepping around Jaz and exiting the closet. 

The two blondes shared a confused shrug before following after the young woman. As they made their way around the corner and stepped into the main part of the building, Clary turned toward Jace and slapped him across the face. “You son of a bitch!” 

“Oh!” Jace stumbled back and trained his eyes on Clary, a stunned expression plastered on his face. 

“Stop following me!” Clary yelled back at him. 

Jace reached out and grabbed her arm, he spoke in a hushed whisper. “Hey, what happened to being discreet? Hmm?” 

Clary took a few steps away from him and turned back again, she continued on with her plan when she noticed Jaz’s equally as stunned expression. She offered the blonde woman a quick sympathetic smile. “What did you say? You cheated on me? Oh, that’s great. And you brought the bimbo with you!” 

“I… Huh?” Jace’s confusion only seemed to grow as he stared at Clary. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the three of them were now surrounded by officers. When he and Jaz tried to move forward after Clary, two officers blocked their path. Jace took a small step back, reaching behind him to push Jaz back. “I did not. Whoa.” 

“You will never see me at your crappy apartment again,” Clary shouted. She made her way to Luke’s desk and pulled open the bottom drawer. So far, though her plan wasn’t a great one, she’d gotten to Luke’s desk without arousing too much suspicion. All they needed to do now was keep up the charade long enough for her to grab the tarot cards and leave. Of course, now that a small crowd had gathered to watch the interaction between her and the other two, she had her chance. 

“This girl means nothing to me. Nothing,” Jace said, playing along. This was a horrible plan. 

Captain Vargas stepped up behind Clary and eyed Jace. “Is that the boyfriend that I heard so much about?” 

“Nope, not anymore.” 

Jace gave a small wave. “Hi.” 

“I’m dumping him,” Clary confirmed. She stood up from the drawer. Her search came up empty and she turned to the woman next to her. “Where is all of Luke’s stuff?” 

“IA took everything. What are you looking for?” 

Clary stuttered, caught off guard by Captain Vargas’s question. “I uh… I lost a house key and Luke normally keeps a spare in his desk, so is there any way I can get it?” 

“Uh, not until he’s cleared,” the woman answered. 

Clary’s expression changed to one of slight shock. “Cleared? Of… of what?” 

“Oh, don’t worry about it. We’ll get it handled,” the Captain reassured her. 

“Oh.” 

Jace called out again, pulling both women’s attention back to him and Jaz. “Clary, I’m sorry. I apologize.” 

“Really? That’s not what you said last night,” Jaz cut in, crossing her arms over her chest and giving Clary a jealous look. 

“I just want you to know it only happened, like two or… it just happened a couple of times and I am totally-” 

Captain Vargas and Clary turned to Jace. “Shut up.” 

Noticing Clary’s hesitation, Jaz stepped up next to Jace, slowly running one of her hands through his hair while the other rested gently on his chest. She tipped her head to the side and pulled her lower lip seductively between her teeth. “Aww, only a  _couple_  of times? Come on, there’s no need to be so modest about it now.” 

Jace smirked, Jaz was a damned good actress. He wrapped his arm around Jaz’s waist, pulling her against him. If they were going to make it out of there without getting caught, it needed to be believable. He kept his eyes trained on the woman across from them. “Babe, come on.” 

“Listen, you don’t get to call her ‘babe,’ okay? In fact, you don’t get to call her at all. Clary’s done with you and your little friend. You got it?” The Captain spoke directly to the two blondes in front of her in a tone that told them she wasn’t messing around. She gestured toward the officers that were holding them back. “Take them out.” 

“I have rights,” Jace added for good measure. He made sure his grip on Jaz’s waist was tight and let the officers lead them from the building. Once they were back at the main entrance and the officers had gone back to their previous tasks, Jace let go of Jaz and sighed. “What the hell do you think all of that was about?” 

“I have no idea,” Jaz answered. She lifted her hand to his chin and turned his head to the side, staring at the bright red spot on his left cheek. She sucked a sharp breath in between her teeth and laughed. “She slapped you pretty good, Wayland!” 

Jace groaned, pulling Jaz’s hand away. “Yeah, yeah. Shut up, Summerwell.” The playful tone of his voice faded as Clary came into view and was replaced by well-deserved disapproval of her earlier theatrics. “You know what? I’m gonna bring Alec with me next time. I don’t think he’s ever slapped me in the face.” 

“I’m sorry, I panicked,” Clary replied once they were back outside. “Jaz, where did all of that come from back there?” 

“You were losing it, just a little quick thinking to keep us from being found out. No big deal.” Jaz told her with a shrug. 

“Someone call for backup?” Izzy asked, coming to a stop in front of them. 

“Yeah. What took you guys so long?” Jace stood facing Alec. 

The older Lightwood turned his attention to the two blonde Shadowhunters. “Funny, I was gonna ask you the same thing.” 

“It’s complicated.” 

Clary cut in. “We found the Cup.” 

“ _The_  Cup?” Izzy questioned. 

“Yeah, but then we lost it. We have to sneak back into the precinct to get it.” 

“This is a disaster,” Alec noted, looking from Clary to his  _parabatai_. 

Jace looked around them, then took a step closer. “Hey, demon pox is a disaster. This is an inconvenience. We just need a plan. That’s all.” 

“What about a glamour?” Izzy offered, placing her hands on her hips. 

“We tried that. Anyone working with Valentine will see right through it.” Jaz answered her. 

“Can we ask Magnus Bane to portal us inside?” Clary asked quickly, looking to the Lightwood siblings. 

Alec remained stoic. “No.” 

“That would be awkward,” Izzy said before catching Alec’s gaze out of the corner of her eye. She went on. “Magnus can only portal us to places he’s been before.” 

“Not again. Just give me a second,” Clary sighed as her phone rang, she excused herself and answered it. “Simon, this is really not a good time.” 

Jaz moved forward to hug Izzy. “Thanks, Iz. I owe you one.” 

“We’re  _parabatai_ _._  Of course, I came. What is up with Jace’s face?” Izzy remarked, the red patch on the blonde’s cheek catching her eye.  

“Oh, it’s quite the story.” Jaz guffawed at the amusement in Izzy’s voice. Jace elbowed her in the ribs. She winked at Izzy letting her know she’d reveal it all to her later. She turned to face Jace, hoping he’d have a better plan than Clary’s original one. “Please tell me I’m not wrong to assume that you’ve got a better plan than hers was?” 

“Of course. What do you take me for, Summerwell? Alec and Izzy, you two head inside and form a distraction. While you do that, Jaz, Clary, and I will get into position to head for the vault and grab the tarot cards. When all is said and done, we’ll meet back here.” 

“Assuming this works, this is the last time we do anything without approval from the Clave,” Alec told him firmly. 

Jace, finally having enough of the mundane interrupting important missions, walked over to Clary and hung up her phone. “Simon’s little problem can wait. I’ve got a great plan.” 

“Oh, there’s a first.” Clary quipped, placing her phone back into her bag. 

Jace laughed surly. “Just follow my lead. Oh, and don’t worry, in my plan, no one gets slapped.” 

 _Slapped?_  Izzy mouthed at Jaz. The blonde simply nodded her head with a shit-eating grin and tried her best not to burst into laughter again. 

Everyone except for Clary understood what they had to do, the Lightwood siblings split off from the others as they all made their way inside. If everything went according to plan, they’d be able to slip into the vault undetected, grab the tarot card with the Mortal Cup in it, and slip back out before anyone even knew it was missing. 

“So, I was promised a great plan,” Clary recalled, following Jace and Jaz back into the precinct. 

“We’ll head up to the vault. Alec and Izzy are handling the rest.” Jace answered her as the three of them made their way to the elevators. 

“All we have to do is wait for their signal and grab the Cup.” Jaz finished. Their heads snapped to the elevator as the doors opened to reveal Alaric. When the man glanced up, there was no one standing in front of him. He exited the elevator and went on his way. From behind the corner, Jace, Jaz, and Clary leaned back, watching as Alaric walked down the hallway. 

“He’s on our side,” Clary said when the three of them entered the elevator. 

“You sure? Isn’t that the line he used when he kidnapped you?” Jace gave back. 

“Good point,” Clary watched Jace press the elevator’s stop button and looked up at him. “What now? We’re supposed to climb the elevator shaft and waltz in the vault unnoticed?” 

Jaz reached up above her head, pushed the ceiling up and moved it out of the way. “Now, why didn’t I think of that?” 

Clary laughed. “Wait, you’re kidding, right?” 

“Remember the binoculars?” Jaz asked. 

“Yeah.” 

The blonde pulled her t-shirt down to reveal the rune on the right side of her chest just under her collarbone, slightly obscured by her bra strap. “This one’s a  _Nyx rune_. It’s like night vision.” 

“You can copy mine,” Jace offered, pulling his own t-shirt aside so Clary had an unobstructed view of the rune. “You got it?” 

“Yeah. Why do I need night vision?” Clary stared at the rune on Jace’s chest before moving to shrug out of her jacket. 

“You’ll see,” Jaz answered plainly. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Jace staring at her with an expression she couldn’t quite tell the meaning of. She could only guess that he was thinking back to the night he’d drawn her  _Nyx rune_  for her, having convinced her to sneak down stairs and train with him after hours. In an effort to keep them from getting in trouble, he’d suggested using the runes to find their way to the training room without having to turn the lights on. 

She offered Jace a small smile of acknowledgment, something to let him know that she knew what he was thinking of. She snickered when he realized that he’d been caught staring and quickly averted his gaze. She’d tease him about it later. 

Clary held up her arms and looked between them for an open space, finally settling on the back of her right shoulder. She pulled her stele out of her back pocket and inhaled deeply. Reaching around to draw the rune, she winced and looked back at Jace. “Um…” 

“Feel free to ask for help,” Jace said, moving to her side. Grabbing her hand, he guided the tip of the stele across her shoulder. 

“I um… I think I can take it from here,” she said softly, glancing up at the man behind her. 

But Jace hadn’t heard. His eyes drifted from Clary’s shoulder to rest on Jaz’s face once again. She rolled her eyes and nodded at him, he chuckled. As upsetting as the last week or so had been for the duo, they seemed to be finding their way back to normal. In the middle of a situation where both of their wits and slight disregard for the rules were free to flourish, Jace and Jaz were finding their rhythm again. Individually, they were amazing. Together, the two of them were unstoppable. 

Clary moved to the opposite side of the elevator, looking over her shoulder as best she could at the new mark, she touched it and winced. She turned around to face the others. “I think you messed something up.” 

“Really? No, we didn’t.” Jace said, looking up above them. 

“Then why isn’t it working?” 

Jaz stepped up next to Jace, looking up at the tile above them as the lights went out and alarms began blaring. “It is. That’s the signal.” 

Clary looked between them as her night vision activated and she realized that she was still able to seem them clearly in the dark. “Whoa.” 

“Right? Going up.” Jace looked at the two women, then jumped up through the open hole in the ceiling and pulled himself up into the elevator shaft. 

“Your turn, Princess.” Jaz remarked. She stepped back and allowed Clary to grab onto Jace’s outstretched hand, watching as she disappeared through the hole. Then, Jaz jumped through after them and they all made their way up to the vault. She kicked open the grate in the side of the wall to the evidence vault and stepped through, followed closely by Jace and Clary. “What is all this crap? Lunch receipts?” 

The trio continued to make their way through the stacks of evidence files, with Clary’s witchlight to guide them. The door to the vault was opened; a security guard glanced around the vault with his flashlight then made his way down the aisle that Clary, Jaz, and Jace had been standing in moments before. The three of them watched with their backs pressed against the racks, unnoticed by the officer as he continued on his way. 

“You’re getting pretty good with your stele.” Jace offered, quietly. 

“Well, at least we know he’s not a Downworlder,” Clary said back, turning her attention to the man across from her. 

Jaz let out a strangled sigh from her spot next to Clary. “Lucky for us. Now, if you’re both done?” 

“Give me a heads up next time you’re gonna do that.” Jace turned and made his way toward another row of racks with case files on them, Jaz and Clary followed after him. 

“In here.” Clary used her witchlight to locate the box with the contents of Luke’s desk in it and pulled it off of the shelf. She set it on the table a few feet away from them and opened it up, pulling out the photo Luke had of him with Clary and Jocelyn. She continued to rummage through the box, pulling out another photo. 

“This will take all day,” Jace said, impatiently from beside her. 

The redhead let out an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes, looking at Jace for a brief moment before she picked up the box and dumped its contents onto the table. 

“Or you could just do that.” Jaz offered with a sarcastic shrug of her shoulders, narrowly missing the warning glance from Jace.  

Clary rifled through the things that had spilled out of the box before she found the stack of tarot cards that her mother had painted. She flipped through each card until she held the Ace of Cups in her hand. 

“That looks exactly like the Mortal Cup,” Jace remarked, glancing over her shoulder. 

“This is it. It has to be.” The excitement in Clary’s voice picked up as she stared at the card and tried to reach inside. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Clary slightly shook her head and stammered. “I’m not sure. I…” 

“You’re not sure what’s wrong or you’re not sure where your mom hid the Cup?” 

“Again, I hate to be that person, but we need to go,” Jaz spoke up, looking back over her shoulder toward the door. 

Clary sighed in defeat, slipped her card into the bag and followed the two blondes out of the vault and back to the main entrance. Once they were outside, they met up with Alec and Izzy. Squad cars surrounded the building with flashing lights as the police officers continued trying to figure out what had caused the power to fail throughout the whole precinct. 

“Did you get it?” Alec asked as he and Izzy met up with the others. 

“Theoretically,” Clary responded. 

“Theoretically?” 

“Yeah. I found the card. I just have to figure out how I reached into my notebook before. It’s… It’s not an exact science.” 

“Can’t you just pull the Cup out?” 

“I can, theoretically, I just... It’s not as easy as it looks, Alec.” 

“Look, you two can discuss theories as much as you want when we get back to the Institute. But right now, considering we just stole from the cops, I suggest we get home.” Jace quickly informed them. 

“Guys...” Izzy interrupted, looking down at her necklace as it flashed and pulsed signaling that there were demons nearby. “I think the mundanes might be the least of our worries.” 

“Well, at least we know the demon necklace works,” Alec said, looking at his  _parabatai_  and his counterpart. 

“Never a dull day. Let’s go.” Jace turned to walk away from the precinct doors, Alec and Jaz on either side of him with Izzy following. 

Clary struggled to keep up with the four Shadowhunters, “Guys, slow down.” She wasn’t watching where she was going and bumped into an elderly woman, she bent down to pick up the bag that the woman had dropped. “Oh, I am so sorry.” 

The woman’s mouth opened up to that of a Ravenor demon in front of the stunned redhead, it stood still in front of her, growling and hissing in Clary’s face. 

“Grandma.” Jace came to a stop behind the demon, when it turned its attention to him, he thrust his seraph blade through its abdomen. 

“What the hell?” Clary asked, finally regaining her composure. 

“Language. Not in front of Grandma.” Jaz quipped as she, Alec and Izzy joined Jace’s side. 

Alec briefly looked at Clary. “How did it find us?” 

“I don’t know… but she brought friends.” Jace answered, looking around them. 

Clary turned to face the other four with a confused expression. “How can you tell?” 

“It’s like seeing through a glamour.” Jace began, catching Jaz’s gaze out of the corner of his eye and making sure she was still with him. 

“You just got to pay attention to the details.” The blonde woman finished. 

“But I can’t see anything,” Clary said, frantically glancing behind her. 

Izzy and Alec quickly pulled up the rear. “Behind us.” 

Clary glanced back over her shoulder, “I… I still can’t see them.” They all came to a halt as one of the officers appeared before them, “Okay, there’s too many people.” 

“I don’t say this often, but I agree with Clary. We gotta get out of here.” Alec spoke up, looking around them as more officers crowded around the group. 

“Hey, this way!” Clary turned and led them down two flights of stairs to an outside door that would take them to the electrical room of the precinct. She grabbed her stele and turned back toward the others. “What’s the  _Unlock rune_  again?” 

Without hesitation, Jaz kicked the door to the electrical room open. She rolled her eyes as she stepped passed the redhead and through the door. 

“Open sesame. Go.” Jace said, following the other blonde into the building with Clary, Alec, and Izzy running in after him. The five of them ran through the electrical room until they reached another gate that would hopefully lead them from the precinct. Jace looked back when he noticed Alec had stopped and drawn an arrow from his quiver. “Hey, what are you doing?” 

“Holding them off. Take Clary back to the Institute.” Alec replied, looking quickly between Jace and the girls. 

“No, if you’re staying, I’m staying. We fight together.” 

Jaz pushed her way between Clary and Izzy and stopped beside Jace. She raised her arms and reached behind her shoulders, the two katanas strapped to her back materialized. “We started this mission together, we finish it together.” 

“Don’t be stupid. If the demons get the Cup, we’re dead anyways.” Alec said back. 

“We’re not leaving anyone behind,” Jace told him firmly. 

“You don’t have a choice.” 

Clary spoke up, interrupting the conversation between the three in front of her, “I know you guys are having a moment, okay? But we really have to go.” 

“The world does not revolve around you, Princess!” Jaz bit out, spinning in Clary’s direction with her blades drawn. Jace reached out and pulled her back to his side, keeping a firm grip on her arm. 

“Don’t worry. It’s not like this is the first time Alec has saved your life. I doubt it’d be the last.” Izzy smirked as she followed Clary from the room. 

Jace looked back at Jaz and Alec, still hell-bent on all of them staying together. “Alec…” 

“Go.” Alec told them finally. When they were gone, he turned back around, knocked his arrow and took aim toward the door. 

~ 

“Hold on.” Panting, Clary stopped a ways down the hallway that she and the others had found their way too. “I’m sorry, Jace.” 

“It’s okay. We can take a breather.” Jace said, giving Clary a slightly worried look. 

“No, it's not that. I, um…” Clary began, turning her attention to the other two women. 

“I’ll scout ahead.” Izzy turned to Jaz. “Be careful.” 

“You, too,” Jaz replied, hugging her  _parabatai_. She turned to Clary and Jace once Izzy was out of sight. 

Clary sighed. “I’m sorry for all of the trouble I’ve put you guys through.” 

“You don’t have to apologize to us, Clary,” Jace replied softly. 

“Unfortunately, you can’t stop me.” 

“Well, yeah. I’m starting to see that.” 

“Just... I’ve been so focused on trying to find my mom, I don’t think I realized how much you’ve actually done for me. So, thank you.” 

Jaz began walking again. “Clary, we’re Shadowhunters. It’s kinda our job.” 

“You... Your job?” She asked, rushing after the two blondes. 

“Yeah.” 

“Oh, you’d do this for anybody?” 

Jace looked over at for a moment, chuckling softly to himself when she rolled her eyes. “Maybe not Simon.” 

“Funny, I think he’d say the same thing about you.” 

“You know, you’re not too bad yourself.” 

“Me?” 

“Yeah. You kicked some pretty serious ass back at the police station. At least, you got our asses kicked.” Jace responded. 

Clary thought for a second. “Thanks... I think” 

Izzy stood in the middle of the room at the end of the hallway, she glanced down as her necklace began pulsing for the second time. “Guys? It’s pulsing.” 

“Again?” Clary asked, stopping next to the dark-haired woman. 

“They’re getting close,” Izzy answered. 

Jaz spun around, following them with her back to Izzy’s, her katanas drawn. “Let’s spread out.” 

“Izzy, where is it?” Jace slowly looked around, prepared for the demons to jump out at them. 

“I don’t know. It’s like they’re right here, but I don’t see them.” 

The four of them continued to fan out across the room as the demons snarled from their hiding places. There was a loud clattering noise above Jace, then a demon emerged from the piping above him. Clary screamed and Jace turned just in time to glimpse the demon as it landed on his chest. He struggled with it for a moment before pulling off of him and slashing it with his blade. 

Clary rushed over to him with a worried expression spread across her face. “Are you hurt?” 

“I’ll live.” He answered, looking toward Izzy and Jaz. 

“What are those things?” 

“Shax demons. They're like the bloodhounds of the Shadow World.” 

“They've been tracking us,” Izzy informed them. 

“So what do we do?” 

Jace looked around them. “The Institute’s only a couple of blocks from here. We can't lose them, but they won't be able to track us if we split up.” 

Clary’s eyes went wide as she realized what he was saying. “But, I don't… I don't…” 

“Clary, you'll be fine. Izzy, Jaz, and I will draw them away. No matter what happens, just keep running.” Jace, Jaz and Izzy turned to face the Shax demons that were emerging from the shadows. 

“They’re coming,” Izzy warned. 

“Jace, I-” 

“Run, Clary!” Jace ordered over his shoulder, slowly stepping in the direction of the demons on the other side of the room. 

Jaz nodded back and turned to leave. Before she did, she stopped next to Izzy. Her concern for her  _parabatai_  was evident in the look on her face, but Izzy just smiled. If anything were to happen to one of them, the other would instantly know it. However, that knowledge didn’t stop Jaz from worrying about Jace or the Lightwood siblings. “Iz...” 

“Don’t tell me the fearless Jazmine Summerwell is having second thoughts about Jace’s plan,” Izzy remarked to the blonde woman. 

“More so worried about leaving Clary on her own with the Mortal Cup. She hasn’t even figured out how to get it.” Jaz explained, glancing back over her shoulder at the redhead. 

“She’ll be fine, Jaz. Now, let’s go before more of them find us. I’ll see you at home.” Izzy stepped forward and hugged her, then took off in the opposite direction. 

“Jace, are you sure this is a good idea? Clary’s got the Cup.” Jaz commented. She slipped her katanas back into the sheaths on her back and looked at the man in front of her. 

“Just trust me, all right? They can’t track all of us if we’re not together.” 

“I trust you, Jace. Always.” Jaz stared fiercely into Jace’s eyes, trying to read the expression in them. As difficult and stressful as their day had been, she knew he wouldn’t have come up with the plan if he didn’t think it’d work in their favor. It wasn’t so much about having to split up, as it was the fact that Clary had the Mortal Cup in her possession and they were being pursued by a large group of Shax demons. She took a deep breath, then opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t find the words she wanted to say. 

“I know,” Jace told her, answering the words she left unspoken. He rested his forehead against hers for a brief moment, then nodded and let her go. “Go! I’ll be right behind you, Hawk.” 

“Just be careful, Falcon.” Reluctantly, Jaz stepped away from her best friend and headed down a different hallway. Her heart hammered in her chest as she ran, the Shax demons close behind her. She moved toward the exit, slipped out the door, ascended the steps onto the streets of Manhattan and took off toward the Institute. 

When it seemed like she had been running for hours and the Shax demons had been vanquished, Jaz finally stopped to catch her breath outside of the Institute. She was just about to make her way inside when her phone rang; pulling it from her pocket, the caller ID showed the last person she thought she would hear from that evening. 

“What do you want?” She asked pointedly. 

 _“I need your help.” The vampire answered in a rush._  

“Now’s not really a good time.” 

 _“I have something that belongs to you,_ _Angelito_ _. I suggest you get to the_ _DuMort_ _as quickly as possible, come alone.”_  

“No. Not until you tell me what’s going on, Raphael.” 

 _“I have the mundane.”_  

On the one hand, she knew getting involved in Downworlder affairs would reflect poorly on her, Jace, and the Lightwoods if it were found out. But on the other, she had a sworn duty to protect mundanes and that included Simon Lewis. Jaz sighed, running her free hand through her hair. She looked back at the Institute, then headed down the street toward the DuMort. “All right. I’m on my way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da!
> 
> It's finally revealed that Izzy and Jaz are parabatai!
> 
> Hope you liked it!


	8. Bad Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After everything that has gone down the last few days, the Clave orders an envoy to go in and observe the Lightwoods. But unbeknownst to them, the envoy is given temporary control over the New York Institute. Robert and Maryse ask their children for one thing and one thing only: to be on their best behavior. But when Jaz and Alec encounter Lydia Branwell for the first time, the blonde instantly finds herself on the other woman's radar. Jaz's distaste and distrust of the envoy only seems to grow when she unknowingly lets out a secret that wasn't hers to tell. Now, faced with the threat of being sent home to Idris and taken away from her parabatai and her best friend, Jaz wants nothing more than to go back to the way things were before her whole world was brought to a halt. Just when it seems like she's all alone, someone from her past returns to assure Jaz that everything will be all right, one way or another.

Jace stood near one of the tables in the Ops Center with Clary, the Mortal Cup held securely in their hands between them. A couple hours ago, he’d left Clary down in the tunnels under the police precinct, while he went with Izzy and Jaz to lure away the pack of Shax demons that had been tracking them. Clary had made it back to the Institute with Izzy and Alec just as he was about to send Shadowhunters out looking for her and now, he kept his eyes trained on Clary’s face as he listened to her marvel at the Cup.

“It just looks like a wine glass,” she remarked with a small smile as her eyes drifted up from the Cup to meet Jace’s gaze.

“That wine glass saved your life.” Jace told her.

“What if... what if I hadn’t gotten the Cup out in time? That demon-”

“But you did. First rule of Shadowhunting... when something explodes, just keep walking. Never think twice. Never look away.”

“And what’s the second rule?”

A moment later, Izzy’s whip wrapped around the Cup and snatched it from Clary and Jace’s hands. She stood a few feet away from them, dressed in a dark purple and black dress. “There’s nothing a Shadowhunter can’t do in heels.” She offered, descending the steps and handing the Cup back to Clary.

Jace took that time to approach his  _parabatai_  who stood at the large monitor, watching the map closely. “Alec, what are you doing? You can stare at this monitor all you want, they need angel blood to get past the wards. You know that. No Downworlder can come into the Institute.”

“Not without an invite by a Shadowhunter,” Izzy amended.

Alec turned to address his sister. “Last I checked, Valentine is a Shadowhunter. The Cup is not safe here. We have to give it back to the Clave.” He settled his eyes on Clary, though he already knew that she wouldn’t agree with him easily.

“Give it back to the Clave? No. Not after everything we went through to get it.” Clary replied defiantly.

“My brother is right. The Cup is extremely important.”

“Are you agreeing with me?”

“I’m full of surprises. And,” Izzy paused, taking a deep breath and staring at the two men in front of her. “Jaz still hasn’t returned. We split up once we made it to the tunnels, in order to give Clary some time to get back here safely with the Cup. I haven’t seen or heard from her since.”

Clary glossed over the information about the blonde, worrying more about how she was going to get her mother back if they handed the Mortal Cup over to the Clave. She clutched the Cup’s tarot card in her hands. “This Cup is the one chance I have at getting my mom back.”

“I agree with Clary,” Jace spoke up, catching Alec’s attention. “We can’t give the Cup to the Clave, not now. We need it. It’s our only bargaining chip.”

“Look, I know how powerful this cup is.” Clary stepped forward, stopping in front of Alec. “It has the power to create new Shadowhunters, control demons and even kill a mundane if they drank from it. But I promise you, I will not let that monster get his hands on it.”

“There you go. You have her word.” Jace tried again, hoping it would be enough to get Alec on board with the plan to keep the Cup at the Institute.

“Follow me,” Alec said, looking at Clary one last time before turning toward the Training Room.

Jace looked up at Izzy as Alec and Clary left, with the decision on what to do about the Cup dealt with, he could focus on the fact that Jaz hadn’t made it home. It was unlike her to get into any sort of trouble, much less, without alerting the others to what was going on. He’d been so wrapped up in the Cup, that he hadn’t given a single thought to his best friend since returning to the Institute. He turned back to the monitor, guilt momentarily washed over his features as he let himself consider the possibilities of what could have happened to her.

“All right, what do we know?” He asked, pulling up a map of Manhattan on the screen in front of him. He highlighted the outline of the police precinct and tried to map out the routes Jaz could have taken that would lead her back to the Institute.

“We last saw her just before the three of us split up to lure the Shax demons away from Clary.” Izzy said, moving to stand next to Jace at the large monitor. She tapped the screen and brought up the precinct, then tapped it again to zone in on the spot she remembered seeing Jaz last.

“Anything?” Alec asked, reentering the Ops Center.

“Not yet. But Jaz can take care of herself, I say we give it a little while longer before we send a search party.” Izzy suggested, sitting down at one of the tables a few feet away. The others nodded in agreement; there was nothing else they could do, now they just needed to be patient and wait.

A faint beeping from the monitor caught Alec’s attention, he approached the screen as the proximity alarms began to blare. “What the… huh?”

The beeping continued to grow louder, higher and faster, finally drawing Jace’s attention from the tablet in his hands to the monitor in front of Alec. He and Izzy got up and joined Alec in front of the screen. “There’s something outside the perimeter.”

“I told you-” Alec began.

“Don’t say it.” Jace replied, quickly cutting him off.

Clary stood a couple feet away from the others. “What’s happening?”

Izzy sighed. “Looks like someone’s trying to break in.”

“Could be the Circle.” Jace offered, as the three of them headed for the Institute doors.

“Told you so.” Alec finally remarked.

Jace sighed and rolled his eyes. “Too soon.”

The three Shadowhunters made their way out of the Institute, weapons drawn and rounded the corner. Jace spoke up upon noticing a figure moving through the fog and shadows. “Don’t move.”

Out of the shadows, Jaz emerged holding her right hand against her left bicep. She dropped her Seraph blade to the ground and let out a dry chuckle. “I didn't expect to be met by the welcoming party.”

“Jaz, thank the Angel, you're all right,” Izzy called out, breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of her  _parabatai_  standing in front of them.

The blonde was just about to reply when movement behind her had Jace quickly pulling her to his side.

“Drop what you’re holding. Put your hands up.” Alec demanded as the four of them fanned out in front of their unwelcome guest.

Clary ran up to join the others just as the figure stepped forward from the surrounding fog; it was the vampire Raphael holding a very limp Simon in his arms. Clary gasped at the sight in front of her and took a small step closer. “Oh, my God, Simon!”

~

Jace and Raphael gently laid Simon’s lifeless body on a table in the basement. The blonde stepped back and looked at his teammates. “People will be wondering what we found outside the perimeter.”

“I’ll go. I’ll tell them we didn’t find anything. Nobody will come down here.” Alec spoke up from his spot in the corner by the stairs and turned to leave.

“I might be a vampire, but I was raised a good Catholic.” Raphael said, looking around the room.

Izzy circled around the man and stopped next to Jaz. She held a bottle of antiseptic, gauze, and bandages in her hands. Carefully, she began dabbing at the wound on Jaz’s left arm. “The vampires breached the Accords.”

“Killing Simon is grounds for war.” Jaz finished, watching as Izzy bandaged her arm.

“The vampires were not behind this. Just Camille. She attacked Simon on her own.” Raphael spoke to the young woman across from him.

Jace stepped toward the vampire, placing himself like a barrier between Raphael and the others. “And how do we know you’re telling the truth?”

“I could have gotten rid of him, but instead I called Jaz and brought him here. I don’t want trouble with the Shadowhunters.”

“Smart decision,” Izzy said, giving Raphael a hard look.

Jace moved to stand next to Jaz, taking Izzy’s place at her side. He gently lifted his hand to her chin, turning her face to him. His eyes scanned over her body before he pulled her into a tight hug. “Jaz, what happened? Where were you?”

She swallowed, taking a small step back, and sighed. Jace’s right arm stayed protectively around her waist. As she spoke, she set her eyes on Raphael. “When we left Clary in the tunnels to draw the Shax demons away, I came here. I assumed I’d gotten here first, but before I could come inside, my phone rang. It was Raphael, he told me he had the mundane. But when I got to the DuMort, I was cornered by Camille. In true Camille fashion, she threatened me, we fought and then she fled. I found Simon and Raphael, and together we brought him here.” 

“I warned the mundane to stay away but Camille gave him a taste of her own blood, and like an addict, he came back wanting more.”

Clary looked up at Raphael, her face red from crying, she was hysterical as she spoke to the vampire for the first time. “The only reason Simon ever tasted Camille’s blood is because of you. You kidnapped him! You drug him to Hotel DuMort. You… You delivered him to Camille!”

The vampire looked back at her. “I never meant for this to happen.”

“Simon. Simon, please come back, please!” Clary leaned over Simon’s still body, multiple sobs shook her own.

“There is a way.”

“‘A way’ what?” Jace forcefully directed his question at Raphael.

He leaned forward from where he was sitting and looked the two blondes in the eyes. “A way to bring Simon back.”

Clary’s head shot up. “You can do that? How?”

“He’s a fledgling.” Raphael said, looking from Simon’s body to Clary. “It’s a state of transition.”

“No.” Jaz and Jace shook their heads.

Izzy spoke from her place a couple feet behind the redhead. “Clary, no.”

“So, I could have Simon back? Alive and breathing?”

“That’s just it. He won’t return alive or breathing. He’ll be a vampire.”

“And not the sexed up, romantic kind.” Jaz cut in, drawing Clary’s attention to her.

Jaz tried to take a couple slow steps toward Raphael, but Jace’s grip on her waist kept her in place. She smiled up at him, removing his hand and moved forward, her eyes were trained on Raphael’s as Jace finally spoke up again behind her. “The ugly, blood-sucking, coffin-dwelling kind.”

Raphael sat back slowly. “That’s offensive.”

“Really?”

“Coffin implies wooden box. We have caskets now. They’re made of 14-karat gold.” He corrected Jace with a smug expression.

The blonde clicked his tongue. “My bad.”

“Jace, stand down, it’s okay.” Jaz turned to her best friend. She placed both hands against his chest and lightly shoved him back.

“Okay? Camille could have killed you,” he replied, softly brushing his fingers over the bandage on her arm.

“You’re right, but she didn’t and now we have to help Simon. And Raphael doesn't mean any harm, he just wants to help us, too.”

“ _Gracias, mi_ _angelito_ _._  You’re too kind.” Raphael said, winking at Jaz from where he sat. He looked around the room and stood up, meeting Clary’s gaze as he approached the table. “It’s almost sunrise. Simon must be turned into a vampire tonight or staked through the heart.”

“And if I do neither?” Clary looked between Jace and Raphael, her expression was broken.

“His soul will be trapped for eternity. You have till sunset to decide. The clock is ticking.”

~

Robert Lightwood sat at his desk in the office while Maryse stood with her back to him at the stained-glass window. They were waiting for their children to join them for an important family meeting. “Valentine’s getting stronger and we’re just sitting here on the sidelines waiting, doing nothing.”

Maryse turned to her husband. “The Clave is handling things.”

“Oh, that’s a joke, Maryse. You and I both know how the Clave handles things.”

“What’s going on?” Alec asked as he, Jaz, and Izzy entered the office.

“Sit.” Maryse said, gesturing to the small couch in front of her and Robert.

Once they were seated, Robert addressed them calmly. “It’s no surprise Jace isn’t here.”

“He got held up. Said to start without him.” Izzy answered.

“I’m sure he has a good reason.” Maryse offered, looking at her husband and then back at the girls and Alec. “I trust that Jazmine will fill him in later.”

The young blonde gave a curt nod. “Yes, of course.”

“Your mother and I… Okay, I requested a meeting at the Clave to inform them that the Seelies are siding with Valentine.” Robert continued.

“And the Clave denied it.” Maryse finished.

Alec looked at both of his parents from where he sat between the girls. “What do you mean? They don’t want you coming to Idris?”

“There are rumors that local Shadowhunters have been interfering in Downworld affairs. But you two wouldn’t know anything about that, right?” Maryse asked, looking to Alec and Izzy for answers.

“Nada.”

“Nope.”

Robert turned his attention to Jaz who had been rather quiet the whole time. “Jazmine, would you care to offer any information about these claims?”

The young woman looked up at the two people who had given her everything since she and Jace had come to live with them. It was no surprise that they looked to her for answers after addressing Alec and Izzy; if they suspected that Jace had anything to do with what happened, it was more than fair to assume that the only other person besides his  _parabatai_  that he relied on, would be in on it too.

Jaz leaned forward, training her warm brown eyes on the two adults in front of her, she spoke calmly. “If I had any knowledge at all of Shadowhunters interfering with Downworlder business, you know that I would have come to you first. We all would have.” She sat back and folded her hands neatly in her lap, having lied to cover each other’s asses many times before, she and Jace were masters at it. “We’re Shadowhunters, we know our place.”

Maryse gave Jaz a small nod before continuing on. “That may be. However, since all this happened here in New York, under our command, they are concerned with our devotion to our job and the cause.”

“But we’re the Lightwoods.” Izzy stated, looking up at her mother.

“Remember, the honor isn’t in the name, it’s in the deed.” Robert reminded her. “The Clave is sending an envoy.”

“Who will be coming to observe us.”

“And to gather information about Valentine to report back.”

Maryse cut her husband off once more and fixed her gaze on the three young Shadowhunters in front of her, “But really to scrutinize our leadership, so I beg of the three of you, don’t do anything that would cause the Clave to lose even more trust in us.”

~

Alec and Jaz walked with Max through the Institute; after the meeting with their parents, the little boy had sought the two of them out. He spoke up after a couple seconds. “Jaz, Alec, you think you could get my stele back?”

“They took it away because you nearly burned down the Mumbai Institute.” Jaz answered.

“How many times do I have to say it was an accident?”

“Look, Max.” Alec stopped the boy, glancing up at Jaz who smirked, then looked back down at his little brother and crouched in front of him. “Somebody very important is coming to visit. All right? You think you can stay out of trouble for just a couple days? If you do, I promise we’ll get your stele back.”

At the sound of the Institute doors opening, Alec and Jaz both snapped their heads in their direction, they were met with the image of Valentine walking towards them. Jaz pushed Max behind her and reached over her left shoulder, her katanas materialized in the sheaths on her back. She drew one and turned to face the doors, with her right hand she threw a small dagger toward Valentine as Alec stood, knocking an arrow and sending it flying toward their unwelcome guest. Valentine side-stepped Jaz’s dagger and caught the arrow from Alec. His appearance blurred before them and he lifted up his left sleeve, passing a stele over his forearm.

With the rune on her arm now deactivated, a young woman stood before them. She sighed. “That reaction time was abysmal.” She walked forward, stopping in front of Alec and Jaz, the blonde had a hand behind her protectively on Max’s chest. “Except you two. I’m Lydia Branwell, envoy from the Clave.”

Alec, Jaz, and Max watched as Lydia approached their mother and Izzy. “Maryse. The Clave has ordered me to take temporary control of this Institute.”

“Wait a minute. Nobody informed us.” Maryse said, descending the stairs.

“The Clave doesn’t need to. And, to repeat myself, it’s temporary. Nothing’s been decided yet.” Lydia made her way over to the large monitor across the room and touched it with her stele. “But I do need full clearance in order to assess how this Institute is running.” She turned her attention to Alec and Jaz. “Where is Clary Fairchild? I would hope someone here knows.”

“She’s in the field, training.” Alec answered.

“You’re telling me she’s just out and about in the streets of New York? Valentine’s daughter?”

“Isn’t she also your cousin?” Izzy cut in, drawing the woman’s attention from her brother and  _parabatai_.

“Distant cousin.” Lydia corrected.

Jaz spoke up next to the older Lightwood. “She’s with Jace.”

Lydia turned and made her way back through the room. “The same Jace Wayland who decided to lead an unsanctioned raid against the vampires? I’ve read reports.”

“Jace wouldn’t have had to lead the unsanctioned raid if they hadn’t broken the Accords and captured a mundane.” Jaz took a small stepped forward; her left hand still gripped the handle of her katana.

The other woman spun in her direction, looking her up and down with a stern expression. “Ah, yes. You must be Jazmine Summerwell, I’ve heard so much about you. You also helped orchestrate said raid against the vampires. Are Maryse and Robert aware of the connections you have within the New York Coven?”

“My choice of company isn’t what’s in question here. Jace and I made the choice that saved the mundane’s life. We’d do it all over again if we needed to. Maybe you should focus more on the reason you’re here and less on what Jace and I are doing with our team.”

“Watch your attitude. Or I’ll have you flagged for insubordination and an escort brought in to see to it that you are sent through the first portal back to Idris until you can learn to follow the rules.”

Alec placed a reassuring hand on Jaz’s shoulder and gently pulled her back to his side the way Jace usually did. Before she could challenge Lydia again, he spoke calmly in her ear. “Jaz, she’s not worth it.”

“Jazmine and Jace may be unconventional, but they’re our best soldiers. If he’s with Clary, then she’s in good hands.” Maryse stepped forward between her children and Lydia, addressing the other woman firmly.

“I hope so. And for your sake, all of New York. All of your jurisdiction better be well protected.” Lydia replied, glancing around the room.

~

“I’m not a fan.” Izzy stated as she, Alec, and Jaz re-entered the Ops Center. 

“Jealous?” Alec asked.

“No. Maybe…”

Jaz chuckled, adjusted the collar of the jacket that she’d borrowed from Jace, then pulled her eyebrows together and looked between Izzy and Alec as they descended the stairs. “How the hell did she catch that arrow? And more importantly, who does she think she’s going to send back to Idris? Because it most definitely won’t be me.”

Alec stopped for a moment and pulled his phone out of his pocket, he glanced down at it then continued down the steps. He quickly made his way over to one of the monitors with Izzy and Jaz close behind him. He projected the image of a dead body from his phone onto the screen. “I have something you need to see. Something attacked the Jade Wolf.”

“The werewolves’ headquarters? Where did you-” Maryse started, looking from the screen to her son.

Lydia cut her off, turning to Alec. “Where did you get these?”

“Leader of the New York wolf pack.”

“You’re friends with Lucian Graymark? An ex-circle member?”

Maryse spoke up again. “How about we send Isabelle, Alec, and Jazmine to investigate? I’m sure this is linked to-”

“-Valentine. I need to see it for myself.” Lydia said, cutting the woman off a second time then turned to leave. When neither of the girls nor Alec moved to follow her, she stopped to address him. “Are you coming or what?”

Izzy and Jaz shared a quiet look with each other before the blonde took a step after Alec and Lydia, prompting the older woman to turn her attention to the Shadowhunter.

“Need I remind you that you are on very thin ice here, Ms. Summerwell?” Lydia’s tone was less than approving as she stepped up to Jaz, looking the younger woman in the eyes. “I suggest you figure out whether or not you are ready to be sent back to Idris, and I suggest you figure it out soon. Track down Jace Wayland and Clary Fairchild, get them back here immediately.”

“I take my orders from Alec.” Jaz challenged. She stared back at Lydia with a clenched jaw and defiance in her dark eyes.

The other woman scoffed. “I have given you an assignment, carry it out.”

Jaz continued to stare Lydia down, after everything she and the others had been through in the last couple days, she wasn’t about to let the Clave’s envoy push her around. Her loyalty was to the Institute and her family first.

“Jaz,” Alec started, pulling her off to the side with him. “Find Jace and Clary, tell them about Lydia being sent from the Clave. Look, I know I don’t always agree with the way you and Jace choose to do things, but even I can’t deny that you never fail to get them done. Whatever you two need to do to keep her out of trouble, do it.”

“Fine.” Jaz answered, grabbing her stele from her back pocket, she passed the tip of her stele over the  _Tracking rune_  on the palm of her left hand and glanced up at Alec. “But Jace owes me for this.”

They held each other’s gazes for another small moment and out of the corner of her eye, Jaz could tell that the other woman was growing increasingly impatient. Alec gave her a brief nod and returned to Lydia’s side.

Lydia moved to take another step toward the golden-haired woman. “I thought I gave you an order, Ms. Summerwell.”

Alec held up one of his hands, stopping Lydia in her tracks. “Just wait. You wanted her to track Jace and she is.”

Jaz let out a frustrated sigh and closed her eyes, holding Jace’s jacket in both of her hands. The room and everyone around her seemed to fade away as she focused all of her thoughts and energy on locating Jace; when she opened her eyes again, the expression on her face was an unreadable one. She flung the jacket over her shoulder and walked back over to Izzy. Neither of them said anything more on the subject, watching in complete silence as Alec followed Lydia from the room.

“So, where’d he run off to after her this time?” Izzy finally asked once they were alone.

“The mundane’s house. And if Jace doesn’t watch her closely, Clary is going to get all four of us sent back to Idris.” Jaz replied, looking at her  _parabatai_  with a grim expression.

~ ~ ~

Clary swung the door to Simon’s room open and stepped inside, glancing around at the mess he’d left before showing up at the Hotel DuMort the night before. She placed her backpack on the bed and moved to the dresser, opening the drawers and rifling through them.

“Clary…” Jace followed her into the room and closed the door behind him. “What happened to the plan? Tell her that Simon’s not coming home.”

“I tried, okay?” Clary whipped around to face him. “I just… I can’t. I’m not ready to just give up on Simon.”

Jace sighed. “Would you stop for a second, think about what you’re doing?”

She approached Simon’s closet, reaching up and searching through his bag, she found a black pouch and put it in her backpack. “I am, Jace, okay? It’s like my brain is telling me to do one thing and my heart another and…”

“Okay. Look there was a boy and a girl, the boy’s father bought them each a bird--the boy, a falcon and the girl, a hawk--for their sixth birthday.”

“Are you seriously telling me a right now?”

Jace nodded and took a few steps toward the redhead until he was standing in front of her. “Please, just listen. His father told them both to tame the birds. Make them obedient.”

She looked up at him. “That’s crazy.”

“And they would spend every day with those birds. The birds would scratch at them. Make them bleed. But eventually, the boy gained the falcon’s trust. He brought the bird to his father, to show him that the bird would come back to him. He thought his father would be proud.” Jace paused.

“And he was, right?”

“No, Clary. His father took the falcon and snapped its neck.”

“Okay, that is the worst story I have ever heard.” Clary shook her head, turning so that her back was facing the blonde.

“You’re missing the point,” Jace’s voice broke slightly and his eyes glazed over with tears. “Yes… the boy was devastated. But he realized his father was right. He was told to tame the bird… not to love it.”

Clary turned around. “And the girl? What about her hawk?”

Jace’s thoughts wandered to back to that day, to the look that had flashed in Jaz’s eyes before she steeled her emotions. He thought about the silent tears she shed once they were alone, and how quickly she got over it when Jace’s father had come back. He took a deep breath and continued. “To prevent her from making the same mistake, the boy’s father took her hawk and snapped its neck right in front of her as well. That’s why you have to listen to your head. If I listened to my heart… I’d never be able to do my job, neither would Jaz. Third rule of Shadowhunting, emotions cloud judgment.”

“Jace, if… if being a Shadowhunter means that I have to be dead inside… I’m not sure I want to be one.” Clary answered, looking Jace in the eyes.

~ ~ ~

Alec kept his expression blank as he and Lydia made their way through the maze of shipping containers at the pier. Already he could tell that Lydia was going to be handful, Jaz was on her radar and he knew that she wouldn’t stop until she had a reason to send her home. “Jaz is one of the best on our team. If you send her back to Idris, you should be prepared to send the rest of us. There’s no way myself or Jace will let her go back alone. She and Izzy are  _parabatai_ , you wouldn’t be doing anyone any favors by splitting them up.”

“I can see why all the girls in Idris are clamoring to meet you.” Lydia said, ignoring Alec’s comment about the blonde Shadowhunter.

“What do you mean?”

“Rumor has it you’re looking to settle down, get married.”

Alec sighed. “Damn it.”

“Let me guess, not your idea?”

“Not even close.”

The two continued through the shipping containers, Lydia went on. “My parents tried to set me up, too.”

“And how’d that work out?” Alec asked, finally glancing at the woman next to him.

“Not well for them. I made my own path. Married the love of my life… John Monteverde. Together we were going to run the Lisbon Institute. And then John was killed. Everything was ripped away. My love, my dream job… A piece of advice…” She looked up at Alec as they came to a stop outside of the Jade Wolf. “In this line of work, the only thing worth falling in love with is the work itself.”

“Lydia, I’m… I’m sorry.” Alec responded as he stood there for a minute before following Lydia inside.

Lydia crouched down next to the dead body on the floor. “It’s got some characteristics of a Forsaken. It was human. It was runed.”

“I don’t know. It was more focused, more determined. It attacked like it had a plan.” Luke stood from where he had been crouching at the body across from Lydia. “Plus, a normal Forsaken wouldn’t have been so hard to kill. It took five wolves to take that thing down. Never seen anything like it.”

“We’ll take the body back to the Institute, do a full autopsy.” Lydia replied, standing and turning to leave.

“Oh, hold up. I get that I called you… Actually, I called Alec. But what I didn’t want is someone to come down here and take over.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of her thing.” Alec said, crossing the room to join them with the mace in his hand.

Lydia looked from Alec to Luke. “Look, I know can come across… abrasive. But we’re all on the same side here. Can we agree on that?”

“That depends, will you threaten to send them back to Idris if they don’t?” Three heads snapped in Jaz’s direction as she stepped through the front door of the Jade Wolf. The same defiant and determined look settled in her eyes.

“I thought I gave you a direct order.” Lydia firmly stated, turning around to face the young woman.

“When I give you an order, I expect for you to carry it out without needing to be babysat.”

Noticing the muscles of Jaz’s jaw tighten, Alec walked over and stood next to her side. “She is following orders, mine. I told Jaz to do whatever it takes to keep Clary out of trouble.”

The blonde looked up at her brother. “When I last checked they were on their way here”

“Ahem. I don’t mean to butt into Shadowhunter business, but I still have a dead body on the floor of my restaurant.” Luke interrupted, turning the other’s attention back to him.

“Right. Look, the Institute has the resources to find out what this thing is.” Lydia responded firmly.

“We have a forensic pathologist. Highly trained in all the creatures of the Shadow World.” Alec explained, he and Jaz walked over to where the body of the Forsaken lay.

“Do you have one here? In this, uh, Chinese restaurant?” Lydia asked Luke, glancing around before looking at him again.

The werewolf sighed. “Fine. You win. Just let me know what you find.”

Alec crouched down, lifting the arm of the body up for him and Jaz to inspect. He looked up at Luke. “You think Valentine was behind this?”

“No question.” Luke scoffed. “It’s definitely his work.”

“What do you think he’s after?” Jaz asked from her spot next to Alec.

“Honestly? Me.”

Lydia addressed the man across from her. “So, you think Valentine’s going after ex-Circle members?”

“I don’t know. It might be kind of personal. We have a complicated past. But of course, he could be going after the old crew. I’m sure Valentine has a grudge against anybody who turned against him.”

“We’ll put extra wards on the Institute.”

“Right, for Hodge.” Alec and Jaz remarked, both of them thinking of their weapons trainer.

“And your parents.” Lydia turned to face them, the expression on her face changing when both of them slowly met her eyes. “Did they conceal that from you? I assumed you knew, considering Jazmine’s parents were among those killed during the Uprising.”

“No, you’re lying. My parents left me with Jace’s dad while they went out on a mission, but they never came back.” Jaz shook her head in disbelief, her fists repeatedly clenched and unclenched. The look in her eyes was nearly murderous as she stared at the envoy.

Lydia looked to Alec for help, but the young man’s attention was trained on his sister. “I didn’t mean to-”

Jaz cut her off. “You lying, self-centered, stuck up bitch. How dare you disrespect fellow Shadowhunters this way? You might have it in for me, for Jace, and the Lightwoods, but I won’t stand here and listen to you sully my parents’ good name.”

“This is your last warning, Ms. Summerwell. Another outburst like that and I will personally escort you back to Idris myself.” Lydia warned, turning to leave the restaurant.

Alec gave Jaz’s shoulders a reassuring squeeze. “Hey, don’t worry. We will figure out how to fix this. Find Jace, let him know what’s going on as soon as you can. I gotta go.”

Jaz could only nod her head, too stunned by what she’d just learned to even offer any sort of response. Not only had she just found out that her parents were part of one of the biggest betrayals in Shadowhunter history, but she had bought herself a one-way ticket through a portal back to Idris. Jazmine Summerwell’s entire world was crumbling around her and she was all alone.

~ ~ ~

Back at the Institute, Lydia and Alec each stood on either side of the exam table that the body of the Forsaken was laying on. Alec leaned over the body while Lydia stood up, glancing at it. “We need to make sure no magic was used to make this. I’m calling the nearest High Warlock to come in to consult.”

Alec briefly looked up at Lydia then returned his attention to the body. “Magnus Bane? To come here to the Institute?”

“Yes, is there a problem?”

“No. Not at all. Magnus is um… quite magical. He’s, uh, very… very good at magic.”

“Do you know him well?”

“Uh, just a little.”

Lydia chuckled. “I actually can’t wait to meet him. Did you know that my great ancestor, Henry Branwell, who was the last of the Branwells to run an Institute, and Magnus Bane invented the portal?”

“No. Just add that to the list of things I didn’t know.” Alec shot back, giving Lydia a leveled look before walking away.

Lydia sighed before following after him. “Alec. I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have had to find out your parents were ex-Circle members. Not like that.”

“You mean from you?” Alec stood with his arms crossed over his chest. “You shouldn’t have been the one I found out from. And let’s not forget that you just threw Jaz’s entire world into chaos.”

“You know there’s been a ban about talking about the Circle till now.” Lydia responded calmly.

“Yeah, how convenient for our parents.”

“This doesn’t change how I feel about the Lightwoods. Your family has always had a strong alliance with mine. They’ve been a powerful force in the Shadow World and praised for their devotion.”

Alec cut her off before she could continue. “Devotion? My parents, Jaz’s parents, they were all in league with Valentine.”

Lydia’s voice softened. “People make mistakes.”

“Yeah, but this one… it’s unforgivable.” Alec turned to leave, calling back over his shoulder. “Don’t expect Jaz to follow orders from you now and  _do not_  send her back to Idris. You’ve done enough.”

~ ~ ~

The doors to the Jade Wolf opened and Clary entered with Jace following after her. Their eyes quickly swept over the sight in front of them, the place was trashed; dishes and chairs were strewn around the room. Clary stopped in front of the alpha who had paused cleaning when the two Shadowhunters walked in. “Luke, are you okay?”

“What happened?” Jace asked, stopping just behind her.

“Uh, you should see the other guy. We were attacked by a Forsaken, if you can even call it that.” He looked at the mess around him, before turning his attention back to Clary and Jace. “Anyway, it’s dead. It looks worse than it was.”

“Luke, you’re hurt.” Clary stepped forward, pulling the torn fabric of Luke’s shirt away and looking at the scratch on his chest.

“Already healed. Perks of being a werewolf. Anyway, I called Alec. He took the Forsaken back to the Institute for an autopsy.”

Jace walked around the room, surveying the damage. “We’ve got the best forensic pathologist in New York.”

“Yeah, so I’ve heard.” Luke looked down at the young woman in front of him, “Clary, what are you doing here? Now that you have the Cup, you know you should be back at the Institute, protected.

“I haven’t taken my eyes off her.” Jace said, leaning against the counter.

“I needed to see you. Luke, it’s Simon.” Clary looked up at him with tears brimming her eyes, her voice shuddered as she spoke. “He’s um… Luke, he’s dead.”

Luke’s face softened and he pulled the young woman to his chest, wrapping his arms around her. “Clary, I’m sorry.”

From where he stood against the counter, Jace took in the sight around the destroyed restaurant once more, stopping when he noticed an all too familiar blonde head sitting in a chair in the far corner. “Jaz? What are you doing here?”

The golden-haired woman turned around, a blank look on her face as her eyes moved up to meet Jace’s blue-brown ones. “Jace, the Clave sent an envoy to the Institute. We’ve got one  _hell_  of a problem.”

Jace’s jaw was set as he led Jaz outside. He stopped in front of the doors with his arms crossed over his chest, avoiding looking at Jaz while she grudgingly told him what she knew about the Clave’s envoy.

“It was unlike anything I’d ever seen. She just walked right through the doors,  _as_  Valentine, completely dodged my knife  _and_  caught Alec’s arrow. Her name is Lydia Branwell, apparently, she’s not just looking for information on Valentine to report back. The Clave has given her full temporary control of the Institute.”

“What do you mean she has temporary control?” Jace asked, finally looking up at the woman across from him.

“I mean that the Clave is letting her call the shots at  _our_  Institute, now.” Jaz groaned. “But that’s the least of my worries considering I’m literally two seconds away from being sent back to Idris.”

“Just calm down, all right?”

“Calm down? While you were out with Clary, I was back at the Institute, covering our asses. And now, this woman who none of us have ever met before today, is threatening to send me home to Idris. I’d like to send  _her_  back through a portal.”

“Why, what happened?”

“She thinks she knows all there is to know about us, that she can just waltz in here and start giving out orders. I stood up to her and she threatened to have me flagged for insubordination. Then, out of nowhere, she just drops this bomb in my lap about my parents being loyal to Valentine and a part of the Uprising.”

“No, that’s impossible. You parents were killed on a mission long before then.” Jace confirmed.

“That’s what I said, though none too kindly. Jace, I am in so much trouble.” Jaz finished.

Jace sighed, stepping in front of the blonde woman and placed his hands on her shoulders, rubbing her arms to calm her down. His expression softened as he looked her in the eyes, he could see all of the pain and anger held in them. “Jaz, stop. Take a deep breath. Nobody is going to send you back to Idris.”

“But Jace, you haven’t met her yet. She’s intense and rude, and hellbent on sending me back.”

“Maryse and Robert wouldn’t let that happen.” He reached up and cupped the side of her face with his right hand, thumb softly stroking her cheek. There was a certain fire in her eyes that he recognized as the same look she always got before hatching a plan that he’d surely have to be a part of, the same look that was constantly drawing them to each other, though neither would admit it.

Jaz’s eyes were wide with uncertainty. “I don’t think there’s anything they can do about it. Lydia has control of the Institute, if she decides to send me back, that’s it. I really messed up this time.”

“Hey,” he tilted her chin up, staring fiercely at the woman he’d spent his whole life with. “ _I_  won’t let that happen.”

“As much as I want to believe that you can fix this, Jace, I don’t think you can... not this time. We might be in over our heads.” Jaz sighed and squeezed Jace’s hand before removing it from her face. “Unfortunately, we can’t worry about that right now. We have to get Clary back to the Institute as soon as possible, I’m not the only one Lydia’s interested in keeping on a short leash.”

“Right, okay. You head back to the Institute, make sure no one’s discovered Simon’s body. I’ll be right behind you with Clary as soon as she’s finished talking to Luke. And whatever you do, stay out of Lydia’s way.”

“Don’t worry, I have no desire to voluntarily cross paths with Lydia Branwell again anytime soon.”

“And remember, both of us or none at all, Hawk.” Jace added softly.

“Both of us or none at all, Falcon.” Jaz promised back. She returned his warm smile, then made her way back down the docks toward the Institute. All she could do now was hope that Alec and Jace were right, that they’d all be able to figure out how to keep her from being sent away. For now, though, she calmly reminded herself of the third rule she and the team followed religiously. “Emotions cloud judgement.”

Though she still had her doubts, Jaz returned to the Institute confident that no matter what happened, her family would remain by her side through it all. However, that confidence in Jace and the Lightwoods did nothing to improve her attitude toward the envoy. Careful to avoid any run-ins with the young woman, Jaz quietly slipped by the group of Shadowhunters standing near the entrance and kept her head down as she made her way to the training room where Hodge was.

“Care to spar against someone who could actually provide a challenge for you, old man?” Jaz asked playfully. She took her jacket off and tossed it on to the table at the top of the steps, then removed her t-shirt and did the same. She stood in front of Hodge in her tank top and cargo pants, waiting for his answer.

Her weapons instructor chuckled, tossing a staff at his cocky student. “Remember who taught you everything you know.”

Before Jaz could take her stance, a Forsaken crashed through the back of the training room wall with its sights set on Hodge. The older man pushed Jaz behind him, then turned to face the demon. Jaz watched as her instructor fought the monster in front of him, calling out when Hodge was knocked on to his back. The Forsaken turned to face the blonde, she was defenseless. She quickly turned back toward the table where the sheath with her katanas lay, she rolled out of the Forsaken’s strike zone and popped up on the side of the table. She was only able to grab one of her blades as it came charging at her.

Jaz brought her katana up and blocked the blow from the Forsaken’s club, but not before it was able to slash out at her, leaving a gash from under her rib cage to the top of her hip. She screamed out and prepared to block another hit when it seemed to falter. As it turned, she noticed the arrow embedded in its back – Alec. She watched as her brother readied another arrow and sent it sailing into the Forsaken’s abdomen, giving her time to get to her feet. But the moment of relief fled as quickly as it came and the Forsaken's club found a home in Alec’s shoulder.

“Alec!” Jaz screamed from her place on the floor a few feet away.

As the monster stood over the older Lightwood, preparing to finish the job, Hodge appeared behind it, successfully slashing across its back with his chakrams. Once it was down, the weapons instructor swiftly snapped its neck and it fell to the floor.

Izzy ran into the Training Room in a white lab coat, she quickly dropped to her knees at her brother’s side. “Oh, my God! Alec, are you okay?”

Alec slowly sat up, holding his left shoulder in his hand. He looked over at the body that lay on the floor next to him, then caught sight of Jaz out of the corner of his eye. “Jaz!”

The blonde sat propped up against the table with her katana next to her, held loosely in her right hand. Blood flowed from her side just under her ribs and down her legs, but she smiled weakly at her siblings. “I’m right here, Alec. You don’t have to yell.”

“Jaz, you’re bleeding,” Izzy said frantically. She rose from her spot next to her brother and went to her  _parabatai’s_  side. She reached out and carefully touched the wound. “This is awful, we need to get you to the infirmary. Both of you.”

“Jaz, what were you doing in here? I didn’t even know you’d returned,” Alec told her, standing to his feet.

“I was just about to prove to Hodge that I could easily knock him on his ass when the Forsaken came crashing through the wall.” She replied nonchalantly, seemingly unperturbed by the blood flowing from the wound on her side.

Hodge helped her stand and wrapped her left arm around his shoulders, he followed after Alec and Izzy supporting the blonde’s weight. “We’ll call it a draw, Summerwell.”

When they reached the infirmary, Hodge carefully deposited Jaz on to one of the open beds and left to go help secure the perimeter, leaving his three students alone for the time being. Neither of the Shadowhunters spoke just then, each one still processing what had just happened.

“Hey, Alec told me what happened at the Jade Wolf. Jazzy, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what you must be going through right now.” Izzy said calmly after a while, taking a seat next to Jaz on the bed.

The blonde shrugged. “How do I go back to the way things were before now, Iz?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, how am I supposed to continue being the person my parents would want me to be? They were just as bad as Valentine. What’s to stop me from becoming just like them?”

“Jaz, don’t say that. You are not your parents and you’re not going to betray the cause. This is just the blood loss talking, you know who you are.”

“No, I don’t, Izzy. Not anymore. I am no better than my parents were.”

“Well, that’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard.” A woman’s voice entering into the infirmary drew both Jaz and Izzy’s attention to the doorway. For a moment, Jaz could have sworn her eyes were deceiving her, she could have sworn she was seeing a shapeshifting demon or a ghost or some kind of figment of her imagination. Like Izzy said, it had to be the massive amount of blood she’d lost. Standing in the doorway, was someone neither of the women nor Alec had seen in a while. Not since the last time they were in Idris, in fact. But that had been long ago.

The young woman crossed the room and knelt down in front of the blonde, she squeezed Izzy’s hand in greeting before turning her attention back to Jaz. “She’s right you know? You’re not your parents. You never will be your parents. They made their choice, but you don’t have to follow them.”

Jaz could do nothing more than stare at her completely stunned, she couldn’t recall the last time she’d even heard her voice. She smiled shyly, though it didn’t meet her eyes and she took a deep breath. Just before she was pulled into darkness, Jaz let a single word fall from her lips, “Ady...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, how about that Lydia Branwell reveal?
> 
> Leave a kudo and comment if you liked it, and be sure to subscribe if you want to see more!


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